Coroner Lists Alzheimer’s as Main Cause of Nobby Stiles’ Death, Adds CTE from Heading as Contributor

A coroner ruled that repeated heading of a football caused chronic traumatic encephalopathy in Norbert "Nobby" Stiles, the Manchester United and England midfielder who died in 2020. Senior Coroner Alison Mulch recorded the cause of death on 15 July 2026 at Stockport Coroners' Court as Alzheimer's disease contributed to by high-stage CTE, along with stage three limbic predominant age-related TDP-43 and cerebrovascular disease.

Neuropathology expert Dr Daniel Du Plessis told the court he was convinced the CTE resulted from heading the ball.

Stiles, born in Collyhurst, Manchester in 1942, played nearly 400 times for Manchester United as a tough-tackling defensive midfielder and earned 28 caps for England. He was a member of the 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning team and died aged 78 in a care home in Stretford, Greater Manchester, after being left bed-bound by dementia.

His son John Stiles estimated that his father headed the ball 40 times a day, five times a week over each 10-month season, for a career total of about 140,000 headers.

John Stiles said his father began forgetting things and repeating questions in his late 50s and early 60s, and by 2010 had decided to sell his medals. Du Plessis stated that Stiles had advanced dementia and died of his dementia, with CTE added to the mix from repeated head injuries. The coroner confirmed on the balance of probability that heading the ball caused the CTE.

John Stiles told the court that players at Old Trafford were encouraged to head a ball suspended from the stand, though it was not forced upon them. He described his father as humble and family-focused, saying football was never a dominant factor in his life.

The FA co-funded a 2019 study showing footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than the general population.

The FA is phasing out all heading in youth football up to under-11s by 2026.