Children aged 11 and under in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will no longer be taught to head footballs during training.

This comes as new Football Association guidelines for coaches also puts limits on how much heading older children should do.

The ruling follows Glasgow University research that showed former footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die from brain disease.

The English Football Association of Wales said its guidance for coaches on children heading the ball was currently under review with the findings being made available later this year.

In a joint announcement from the FA, Scottish FA and Irish FA, coaches were advised that there should be "no heading in training in the foundation phase" - which covers primary school children, or under-11 teams and below.

There are also new rules for age ranges up until 18, with headers being kept a "low priority" and gradually becoming more frequent in training until the age of 16.

There will be no changes to heading in youth matches, where the FA said headers are rare.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said: "This guidance is an evolution of our current guidelines and will help coaches and teachers to reduce and remove repetitive and unnecessary heading from youth football.

"It is a responsible development to our grassroots coaching without impacting the enjoyment that children of all ages take from playing the game."

An inquest into the death – in 2002 - of ex-West Bromwich Albion and England striker Jeff Astle found heading heavy leather footballs repeatedly contributed to trauma to his brain.

His daughter, Dawn Astle, who has campaigned for changes in rules over headers, said she was "pleased" with the ruling and that it was "sensible" following the research.

Published in October last year, the University of Glasgow study found that former professional footballers were more likely to die of degenerative brain disease - and five times more likely to die from Parkinson's disease.

There was no evidence in the study that linked incidences of the disease with heading the ball, but the FA said the new guidance had been issued to "mitigate against any potential risks".

Ms Astle added that there should now be guidelines for training for footballers aged 18 and over.