​England 1966 World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died with a brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, a coroner ruled on Wednesday.Stiles, a former Manchester United midfielder, died almost six years ago aged 78 with severe dementia and had headed a football around 140,000 times during his career, Stockport Coroner’s Court heard at the inquest into his death.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementExpert analysis of his brain showed his severe dementia was as a result of Alzheimer’s disease but also the condition, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has been associated with head trauma from heading a ball.Neuro-pathology expert Dr Daniel Du Plessis told the court: “I’m quite convinced his heading the football that many times has caused his CTE.”Alison Mutch, senior coroner for South Manchester, asked Dr Du Plessis: “You are saying repeated heading of the ball is the cause of his CTE?”“Yes,” Dr Du Plessis replied.Norbert “Nobby” Stiles was a tough-tackling defensive midfielder, who was capped 28 times by England and played nearly 400 times for Manchester United.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCoroner Mutch said to his son John Stiles that it was “quite strange we are having this conversation on a day like this” given England play a World Cup semi-final later against Argentina, looking to make their first final since 1966. But the witness said his father “never talked, he never bragged” about being a World Cup winner.John Stiles is head of the Football Families for Justice (FFJ) group, which is calling on the football authorities to do more for ex-players.He is among dozens of former footballers and their families suing the Football Association (FA), the Football Association of Wales and the English Football League over claims they were “negligent and in breach of their duty of care” to the former players.In January an inquest into the death of ex-Scotland, Manchester United and Leeds defender Gordon McQueen, at the age of 70, found that heading the ball was “likely” to have contributed to a brain injury which was a factor in his death.McQueen was also diagnosed with CTE.The English FA is phasing out all heading in youth football up to under-11s by 2026.