Alan Shearer: Ex-England captain to present documentary on football and dementia

Shearer scored 46 headed goals in the Premier League

Former England captain Alan Shearer will present a BBC One documentary this summer on scientific research linking football and dementia.

The ex-Newcastle and Blackburn striker will front Dementia: Football's Silent Shame? in a bid to find out if footballers are more at risk from suffering in later life.

Three members of England's 1966 World Cup squad have had Alzheimer's.

Uefa has commissioned a research project into the issue.

Shearer, 46, will meet footballers and their families affected by dementia before turning himself over to science. Undergoing a variety of cutting edge medical tests, including bio marker blood tests and transcranial magnetic stimulation, to uncover what condition his body and brain is in.

"After seeing the movie Concussion, I was intrigued, " said Shearer, who is the Premier League's record goalscorer.

"I was aware of former football players, legends who I grew up watching, suffering from dementia. Could this affect football and footballers too? The more I read about it, the more I felt this was a subject that could no longer be ignored."