The Como club has formalized a profound change in its training policy by announcing the ban on heading for the youngest categories of its academy. This reform, led in particular by Raphaël Varane, member of the club’s educational council and board of directors, aims to better protect the brain health of young players. “I have often spoken about the need to take head impacts seriously in football and the absolute imperative to protect our children”explained the former defender of the France team, who wishes to establish a more progressive and secure learning of this technical gesture.
Concretely, heading will be completely prohibited among the U10s, both in training and in matches, while it will only be introduced in a very supervised manner from the U11s and the U12s with light balls and a maximum number of five headers per session. In U13, it will remain banned in matches and limited to one weekly training session. Through this program, Côme intends to prioritize technical development, decision-making and contact time with the ball before gradually integrating aerial play, with regular monitoring from educators and families.
