Researchers have launched a “breakthrough study” costing £660,000 into the potential link between head impacts and brain disease among former professional footballers in England.

Funded by the Drake Foundation, academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Queen Mary University and the Institute of Occupational Medicine will study 300 former players between the ages of 50 and 85 over the next two years.

The Professional Footballers’ Association, which has been strongly criticised previously by campaigners for its perceived inaction on the issue, has agreed to facilitate the project with its database of former players. Researchers will assess the playing history, work history and lifestyle of the players and also conduct an extensive range of tests, ranging from face-to-face examinations and neurological clinical tests to the option of blood samples for biomarker measurements.

The Daily Telegraph has been campaigning for further research into the issue since 2016 amid the “frightening” anecdotal evidence of former professional players suffering with various symptoms of brain disease that would be consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The issue was further highlighted by a separate Drake Foundation-funded study last year which found CTE – a type of dementia caused by blows to the head that is especially prevalent in boxers and American footballers – in the brains of four former footballers.

The Football Association and PFA are funding a separate study that is being led by neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart into the prevalence of neurological disease among former professional footballers. Dr Stewart diagnosed CTE in former England international Jeff Astle, who died in 2002, and this research will also focus on the medical histories and cause of death of former players. The Drake study will focus exclusively on a sample of up to 300 living former players.

“Many people have waited many years for a study like this,” said James Drake, chairman of the Drake Foundation. Prof Neil Pearce, who is leading the Drake study, added: “We know there are increased risks of neurological disorders from head injury in sports such as boxing. However, we don’t know much about the risks from concussion in football, and we know almost nothing about the long-term effects from heading the ball repeatedly.

“This breakthrough study will provide, for the first time, persuasive evidence of the long-term effects on cognitive function from professional football.”