England 1966 World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died with a condition caused by heading footballs, his inquest concludes.

Norbert "Nobby" Stiles headed the ball thousands of times a year in training, his son says England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died with a brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, a coroner has ruled at his inquest. The former Manchester United and 1966 World Cup-winning midfielder died with severe dementia in 2020 aged 78 and had headed a football about 140,000 times in his career, Stockport Coroners' Court heard. Neuropathology expert Dr Daniel Du Plessis told the court: "I'm quite convinced his heading the football that many times has caused his CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy]." Senior Coroner Alison Mulch recorded the cause of death as Alzheimer's disease, contributed to by CTE, along with another neurodegenerative condition and cerebrovascular disease. Norbert "Nobby" Stiles, born in Collyhurst, Manchester in 1942, was a tough-tackling defensive midfielder. He was capped 28 times by England and played nearly 400 times for Manchester United. He lived in Stretford, Greater Manchester, before he died in a care home on 30 October 2020, having been left bed-bound by his dementia.