Scientists at Loughborough University believe footballs could be designed to significantly reduce the impact of heading, after a study found the energy transfer of some balls was 55 times greater than others that have been used in the professional game.

The research, which was led by Loughborough’s Sports Technology Institute and philanthropically funded by the FA, looked at “ball-head impacts” between a range of footballs used over the past century.

“Using a specialist pressure sensor positioned within the brain model, they observed, for the first time, a distinctive pressure wave that transfers energy into the frontal region,” says the team at Loughborough.

“The research showed the magnitude of this energy transfer varied by up to 55x across historical and modern ball types. Researchers hope that this new insight may help inform the development of new ball designs that will minimise pressure wave energy transfer.”

Harland suggested to The Times that Fifa could include a pressure wave energy test when accrediting future football designs. “They already have a suite of tests that a match ball has to meet,” he said. “This could potentially be another test.”

He added: “Having studied football impacts for two decades, I am pleased we have been able to find evidence of this pressure wave and quantify the energy that is being transferred into the brain during each header.

“There is still much work to do before we fully understand what this means for brain health, but this research allows us to provide a much more detailed description of how energy is transferred during heading.”