One of the pioneers of women’s football in England has become the first female player to publicly attribute her dementia diagnosis to a long playing career.

Sue Lopez, 74, is a trailblazing figure in women’s football and was awarded the MBE in 2000 after playing abroad in Italy, at Roma, representing England 22 times and managing the Southampton Saints women’s team from 2003 to 2005.

Lopez told the BBC that she felt “sick” when she was diagnosed in 2018 and that she thinks it was the direct result of a playing career that spanned from 1966 until 1985. “I think my dementia has been caused by the heading of a football,” she said. “I’m always hoping people are being more careful now, not letting young kids head the ball.”

Lopez’s diagnosis will further highlight concern that women footballers could be at an even greater risk than former professional men’s players who were themselves found to be 3½ times more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease.

The research, conducted by the Glasgow Brain Injury Research Group (GBIRG), was funded by the Football Association and Professional Footballers’ Association and followed The Telegraph campaign for football to investigate the suspected link to dementia.