A top football executive believes the rest of the world will eventually catch up with the United States’ pioneering ban on heading in youth football.

The Professional Footballers’ Association has advocated the move, which would apply to all under-10s, and in January European football’s governing body UEFA said it would consider implementation if its own study provided sufficient evidence.

A major study into the long-term effects of heading and potential links to dementia and brain damage commissioned by the Football Association and PFA began two months ago but initial findings are not expected for at least three years.

However, the US has already taken action with a ban in place since 2015. Kevin Payne, the chief executive of US Club Soccer, national association member of the United States Soccer Federation principally involved in youth football, was involved in the discussions which led to restrictions being brought in.

“While there is not a lot of direct evidence or research which draws a straight-line correlation between heading a ball at young ages and potential issues later in life we think it is a logical assumption as younger children’s technique will not be as good and their brains are not as fully developed,” he said.

“Until such time as that research has been completed and there are conclusions to be drawn we thought it was much safer to err on the side of caution. Part of the issue is that no one really knows what are the consequences of heading a ball at this young age. Until we do know the answer the only responsible course of action is to do everything possible to minimise the chance of it creating problems.

There were some individuals who were not happy about it and I am sure there are still, the old guard who think it is silly not to allow heading.”

However, the UK brain injury charity Headway believes evidence is not yet available to support a ban on young footballers heading the ball and have questioned the validity of picking an age at which youngsters are allowed to begin heading, while calling for urgent research to be carried out.The United States has had a restriction on under-10s in place for three years and discussions are taking place about Europe following suit.

“It is important that all measures to protect the welfare of children playing sport are introduced without discouraging participation,” a Headway spokesman said. “When it comes to heading footballs the reality is that we don’t have enough evidence yet to draw a meaningful conclusion, and that is something that should have been rectified a long time ago.

“Introducing bans on children heading footballs, using an arbitrary age of 10, for example, without robust evidence to support such a move, is not something Headway currently supports.

“While well-meaning, we have concerns that the unintended consequences could include dissuading children to be active and play football, when in very young age groups heading is not commonplace. In addition, it may also give the impression to parents of children in slightly older age groups that heading is perfectly safe for them when in fact we simply don’t know.

“We urgently need more research – particularly research that has meaningful implications for today’s game. Until that time, we have to ensure we take a common sense approach to the issue of heading modern, lightweight footballs that doesn’t put people off from playing the sport.”