The future management of head injuries in football came under the spotlight in the latest episode of Living Football with the Director of FIFA’s Medical department Andrew Massey.

Also featured in FIFA's football magazine show are two players who suffered high-profile head injuries, former Czech Republic and Arsenal goalkeeping great Petr Cech and Christoph Kramer, who was famously helped off the field during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Final

Massey spoke about his experiences working alongside Jurgen Klopp, plus his plans at the world governing body, including managing COVID-19 in football and, most notably, the important topics of concussion and mental health in the game.

“The concussion question comes down to in the past we have not assessed the gravity of what concussion is,” he said. “But if we change the discussion from concussion to brain injury, people immediately sit up and think, 'Well, this is a bit more serious’.

“So highlighting the importance, gravity and seriousness of brain injuries – concussion injuries – is paramount in my job at FIFA because we need to find ways to decrease the incidence of it and improve our management of it as well.”

FIFA’s new trial protocols came into effect during the FIFA Club World Cup™ in February.

“I’m very happy to see this development because the medical team, in terms of concussion, is under a lot of pressure during the game,” said Cech.

Also in this episode, a look at how the FIFA Forward programme is positively impacting football in Honduras, while FIFA Legends Lindsay Tarpley and Ryan Nelsen speak with Samantha Johnson, looking ahead to the Olympic Football Tournaments.