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• Virtual reality could help improve heading skills amid new restrictions – study

  Virtual reality could help footballers improve their heading without the repetitive head impacts from a ball, a new study indicates.

  Players involved in a study at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport and its Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences demonstrated greater performance in ‘real world’ heading after training with a VR headset compared to a control group who did no training.

  The VR group also reported greater self-confidence and efficacy in their heading compared to the control group, the study found.

  The study, titled: ‘A preliminary investigation into the efficacy of training soccer heading in immersive virtual reality’, has been published in the journal Virtual Reality on Tuesday.

  It provides some insights into how players may be able to improve heading technique amid restrictions on training.

  Football Association guidelines advise against any heading training in under-12s, while a trial is ongoing in the current season and next season to eliminate deliberate heading completely from matches up to and including that age group.

  At ages 12 and 13, heading should be limited to a single session of no more than five headers, and no more than 10 headers per session for children aged 14 to 17, according to FA guidance.

  Even in adult football at all levels, players are advised to perform only 10 ‘higher force headers’ per training week, such as headers from crosses, corners, free-kicks and returning of goal kicks.

  The exposure to heading has been limited because of concerns over the sub-concussive impact of repetitive heading on a player’s longer-term wellbeing.

  The 2019 FIELD Study found professional footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population.

  “With increasing restrictions of heading exposure to professional and youth soccer, it is evident that alternative methods for training heading confidence and technique will be required while it remains an integral part of the game,” the VR paper concluded.

  “The work presented here provides some initial evidence suggesting that immersive VR may have a place in any new approach to training this important skill.”

  A group of 36 adult recreational-level players, made up of 30 men and six women, participated in the study in total.

  The 36 were split into two groups of 18, with 16 men and two women in the control group who did not use the VR headsets between ‘real world’ heading sessions, and 14 men and four women in the VR group.

  The VR group used the Oculus Quest 2 head-mounted display, with the Rezzil Player 22 application used to provide the VR football heading training.

  Dr Ben Marshall, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport, said: “Our findings show that virtual reality (VR) based training can be used to improve real-world heading performance and that this method is more effective than not training the skill at all.

  “This is important as current training guidelines recommend limiting the number of physical headers performed in training for all age groups due to the associated long-term risks to player health.

  “Our findings suggest the inclusion of VR-based training could play an important role in developing football heading skills whilst reducing the number of real-world headers and sub-concussive head impacts that players need to be exposed to – which is really positive.”

• Birmingham investment approved by EFL

  The EFL has approved Tom Wagner’s imminent investment in Birmingham.

  The American financier and his company, Knighthead Capital Management, has agreed to purchase a 45 per cent stake in Blues under Shelby Companies Limited.

  Birmingham and Wagner still need the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to confirm the deal before it is officially completed with the club’s parent company, Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited, having been looking for investment.

  A club statement read: “The English Football League (EFL) has today approved the acquisition of 45 per cent in the Club by Shelby Companies Limited and is now awaiting approval in accordance with the rules of Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

  “This exciting announcement comes after the exchange of two signed Sale and Purchase Agreements (SPA) on Sunday, 7 May.

  “Shelby Companies Limited is managed by American financier, Tom Wagner, who was in attendance at Blues’ final game of the 2022/23 Sky Bet Championship season against Sheffield United.”

• New Cardiff boss Erol Bulut still haunted by Turkish earthquake

  New Cardiff manager Erol Bulut says he and his family are still affected by the huge earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey four months ago.

  Bulut was manager of Gaziantep until nine days before the destruction there on February 6, but he was still in the Turkish city – just 23 miles from the epicentre – when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit.

  “It was four in the morning and we were sleeping, I felt my house shake,” Bulut said of the earthquake which killed over 50,000 in Turkey and left nearly another 10,000 dead in neighbouring Syria.

  “My kids still have a thing about that, thinking that it’s shaking and shaking.

  “The small villages around Antep (Gaziantep) were totally destroyed. We couldn’t go out.

  “We couldn’t drive to Istanbul because the streets were destroyed. We made a plan to get out of there.

  “My squad was living on the 20th floor and they were shocked more. I called my squad together and they slept for one night in my house.

  “Thank God I arranged a private jet and we left from Antep the next day. An ex team-mate of mine, one from Fenerbahce, he died.

  “Also an ex-coach who was also with me, he died, too. It was not easy. If I think about this I don’t feel well. It was not easy for my country.”

  Former Turkey Under-21 international Bulut has signed a one-year contract with the option of another two should things go well in Wales.

  The 48-year-old has enjoyed success in Turkey by guiding unheralded Yeni Malatyaspor and Alanyaspor into the Europa League.

  He also had eight months in charge of Fenerbahce – during which time he signed Germany international Mesut Ozil from Arsenal – but was sacked in March 2021 with the Istanbul-based club third in the Super Lig.

  Bulut arrives in the Welsh capital on the back of Cardiff finishing 21st in the Sky Bet Championship and employing three managers – Steve Morison, Mark Hudson and Sabri Lamouchi – during a troubled campaign.

  But Bulut, who was approached by Cardiff in 2020 before becoming Fenerbahce manager, said: “I had a conversation with Vincent (Tan, club owner) two weeks ago via a Zoom call.

  “Vincent already got promoted two times to the Premier League. Why not a third time? We will make everything possible.

  “Last year was not so easy to keep in the league, but we don’t want to be in that position again. So we will have to work for that.”

  Cardiff are currently working under a transfer embargo with the EFL as they cannot pay transfer fees for players until May 2024.

  The club is challenging the EFL ruling but it is unlikely to be revoked during this summer’s transfer window.

  Bulut, who has targeted eight to 10 summer signings and will now run the rule over Cardiff’s out-of-contract players, said: “We have some players in our hand.

  “Some players we will have to discuss, I think seven have contracts finished. I have to see the players in training for the first 10 days.

  “I think around eight to 10 (signings) can be possible.”