What does the FA's heading guidance say for these age groups?

In matches: no deliberate heading for Under 7 up to and including Under 11 (FA Rule O, every affiliated league must apply it).

• A deliberate header gives the opposition an indirect free kick where it happened.
• A deliberate header inside the player's own penalty area is restarted with an indirect free kick to the opposition on the nearest line of the penalty area.
• There's no disciplinary sanction unless a player persistently heads the ball deliberately, which could be a caution.

In training: The FA's guidance is that heading should not be introduced in training sessions for Under 5s to Under 11s. Use the time on ball mastery and other skills instead.

Heading is introduced in matches from Under 12, with limited, unopposed heading practice in training (no more than one session a week and five headers).