It was approved last week by the UEFA Executive Committee after debates continued over whether heading a football could lead to altering a player's brain structures and function.

The document looks to manage heading in training and in matches as well as taking into consideration the effects of heading drills for youth players.

Recommendations are given on specific aspects such as ball size and pressure, looking at neck-strengthening exercises and detecting potential concussion symptoms.

It also looks to limit the burden of heading in youth football with National Associations having the power to issue additional regulation, but must at least meet UEFA's minimum guidelines.

The guidelines were compiled by a group involving the UEFA Medical Committee and other experts including the UEFA Jira Panel - a group which comprises of technicians and coaching experts.

UEFA Medical Committee chairman Tim Meyer said: "There has been considerable discussion in recent years around the issue of whether repeated heading during one's career can lead to long-term changes in the structure and function of the brain.

"However, to this date, no conclusive scientific evidence has been provided for this.

"It was important for UEFA to collect data on the burden of heading in youth football, and it was our task to identify what can be safely derived from existing scientific evidence."

The findings from two independent research groups commissioned by UEFA in 2018 - the University of Saarland in Germany and the Hampden Sports Clinic and Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board in Scotland - gave detailed input for the guidelines.

Due to the lack of scientific evidence at this stage, UEFA has said it has not taken the guidelines further than some would like them to and will not do so until evidence is conclusive.

The University of Saarland study found that youth players have a low exposure to headers, especially during match conditions with most players under the age of 12 not heading a ball at all during a match or only once.

It also suggested that the lowest number of headers per match was observed in under 10 teams, followed by under 16 female and under 12 teams, while under 16 male teams had a higher heading exposure.

There was also differences between different nations.

The Hampden Sports Clinic study saw that only four of the 55 UEFA Member Associations had guidelines for heading in youth players.

It also showed that coaches were not necessarily educated on the possible consequences of youth heading, showing inconsistent levels of knowledge.

A study from the University of Glasgow in October suggested there was a link between professional footballers and developing dementia. 

Researchers compared the causes of death of 7,676 former Scottish male professional football players born between 1900 and 1976 against over 230,000 matched individuals from the general population. 

The study showed that former professional football players had an approximately three and a half times higher rate of death due to neurodegenerative diseases.