PFA survey reveals number of neurodivergent players

The PFA is the trade union for male and female professional footballers in England and Wales

Sixty per cent of professional footballers who have reported they have certain neurodivergent traits have not disclosed them to their team or club, according to the preliminary results of a new survey.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) has so far surveyed 700 of its members in what it believes is the largest research questionnaire done with professional athletes globally on neurodivergent conditions, such as autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD.

It has so far found 5% have been diagnosed with a neurodivergent condition - where a person's brain functions differently from the typical brain - and about a quarter have reported they have certain neurodivergent traits.

When it comes to difficulties with attention and focus, 26% said they had issues in this area, while 22% reported issues with social interactions.

Manchester United and Wales goalkeeper Safia Middleton-Patel, who was diagnosed as autistic two years ago aged 18, told BBC Sport she is "not surprised at all" by the results, and she is delighted by the role the PFA is playing in creating greater understanding, something she did not always experience in the past.

"I know what it's like to be dropped from a club because they say you're too argumentative and you're too difficult and we can't handle you," said Middleton-Patel, who was diagnosed after she joined Manchester United. "I'm not trying to be difficult.

"They [the club] are very, very understanding. And if they don't understand, they will always pull me aside for a chat. They won't ever have a go and be like, 'why've you said this, why you've said it like that'. They want to understand me more than anyone else."

The NHS estimates one in seven people in the UK are neurodivergent, although the number of people formally diagnosed as neurodivergent is not known.

The PFA's survey features players from first and youth team squads across the Premier League, Women's Super League and the English Football League.

The study, which is being conducted face-to-face, is expected to be completed by the close of the 2024-25 season, with the total number of players involved expected to double by then.

The PFA hopes the survey results will help increase understanding and generate a more informed conversation around neurodivergence, which will benefit both players and clubs.

"In the same way players all have different physical attributes, they also have different behavioural characteristics that will influence how they approach the day-to-day things that are part of their job, whether that's understanding training drills, studying post-match video or engaging with team-mates and fans," explained Dr Michael Bennett, director of player wellbeing at the PFA.

Dr Subhasis Basu, one of the study's medical leaders and a medical advisor to the English Football League (EFL), has seen first-hand how neurodivergent traits can lead to challenges for players.

He gave the example of an injured player who was described as "disruptive", "verbally irritable" and "difficult to manage" by coaches and rehab staff.

Basu was asked by a colleague to meet the player and was left asking, "Did he send me to the right player?"

"I found them very charismatic, very open, very personable," he added.

"What I realised was that this player would ask a question [about his rehab from injury] to three members of staff and he'd get three slightly different answers - and that was absolutely impossible for him to process to the point where he was getting extremely frustrated.

"He didn't know what he was doing from one day to the next, didn't understand the purpose of his rehab, didn't feel like he understood what the end goals were."

Basu took over his case and delivered a consistent message and talked through any questions in detail, which "changed the direction of how we understood his rehab" and got him back to fitness without further issues.