LONDON -- One in four professional footballers said they suffer symptoms of anxiety and depression in a new study into the sports largely unexplored "dark side" of mental illness. The mental health of recently retired professional footballers was even more worrisome, with one in three reporting signs of anxiety and depression. Some 300 current and former professionals -- from the Netherlands, Major League Soccer, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand -- took part in the study for the players union, FIFPro. While football can draw on reams of scientific study about players physical injuries, little research has previously been done into their mental health, and mental health problems have remained very much taboo in the sport, FIFPro chief medical officer Vincent Gouttebarge said. "There is definitely some dark side of professional football," he said in an interview. "We dont talk about mental health issues in football, or we didnt talk about this issue," he added. "Its quite a macho culture so people do not talk about it." Gouttebarge said the studys findings suggest that professional footballers are no less prone to mental illness than other younger people in the general population. He said that might surprise fans who believe footballers live comfortable, worry-free lives, with media attention often focusing on the wealth of the most successful players. "Contrary to what people think, professional footballers experience psychological problems just like other groups in the population," Gouttebarge said. Among the 180 active footballers who responded to the lengthy questionnaire, 10 per cent reported symptoms of distress, five per cent reported signs of burnout and three per cent said they suffered from low self-esteem. Nearly 20 per cent reported problems with alcohol, which Gouttebarge said could include binge drinking and regularly drinking too much, and seven per cent said they smoked. The 121 former professionals who responded on average had 12-year playing careers and have been retired for five years. Fifteen per cent showed signs of burnout and 18 per cent signs of distress. One in three reported drinking problems, 12 per cent smoked, and 39 per cent reported suffering from depression and anxiety. Gouttebarge said that could include worrying, mood swings, difficulties sleeping, feeling stressed, not being sociable or a combination of symptoms. "Mental illness seems to occur among former professional footballers more often than in current players, and more often than in other populations. Consequently, mental illness among former professional footballers cannot be underestimated and should be a subject of interest for all stakeholders in football," the study said. Retirement was "really a critical period," with players abruptly losing the structure of regular training and the support of being in a club, Gouttebarge said. "You have to find a new life," he said. "It can put you under a lot of stress." Long-term injuries and surgeries that take players out of the game and away from close, regular contact with teammates can also be factors in mental health problems. Being forced to stop playing professionally because of injury or because clubs wont offer another contract can be particularly hard to cope with, Gouttebarge noted. "This has been recognized in other sports as a huge cause of mental health issues," he said. "The guy who is willing to retire or to stop his career is really (in) a different kind of situation to the one who is forced to retire." He called the study "a good first step" toward identifying the scope of mental health issues in football. The survey is expanding to players in France and from French-speaking nations in Africa, with plans to also study players in Spanish-speaking countries and Japan, Gouttebarge said. Black Friday Yeezy . 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The left side midfielder played only 43 minutes in three games this season.Winston-Salem, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - The fifth-ranked Louisville Cardinals will play their first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference game, as they take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Sunday evening at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Stadium. Rick Pitinos Cardinals have just one loss on the season, but it was to bitter rival Kentucky last weekend. Louisville was able to get some distance from the 58-50 loss to the Wildcats with a 63-48 win over Long Beach State last Tuesday to close out non-conference play and move to 12-1 on the year. Danny Mannings first season in Winston-Salem has come with mixed reviews thus far. The Demon Deacons have played better of late with wins in three straight and four of their last five games, but competing in the very top-heavy ACC will certainly be a challenge. Wake closed out non-league play and opened a three-game homestand on New Years Eve, knocking off Princeton, 80-66. This is just the fourth all-time meeting between these two programs. Louisville holds a 2-1 series edge, although it was Wake that got the win last time these teams met, a 60-59 decision in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. Louisville got off to a strong start against Long Beach State last week and took a 34-19 lead into halftime, but had to fend off a second half run by the 49ers to earn the victory. Sophomore guard Terry Rozier was masterful in the victory, netting 23 points, while grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out three assists and recording six steals. Junior forward Montrezl Harrell added 16 points to the cause, while senior forward Wayne Blackshear finished with 12. Rozier has really turned it on of late, as the 6-foot-1 youngster has averaged just under 22 points per game over the last siix outings.dddddddddddd He currently leads the Cardinals in scoring at 17.1 ppg. Harrell is an All-America candidate and one of the nations premier players. He is shooting 60 percent from the floor and is averaging a near double-double with 16.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Blackshear (13.3 ppg) provides frontcourt depth, while Chris Jones (11.4 ppg) does the same in the backcourt. Louisville not only has scoring depth, but has played tremendous defense for the most part, limiting foes to just 54.2 ppg this year, while holding them well under 40 percent shooting efficiency (.350). The Demon Deacons have struggled at times at the offensive end and that is not good news going up against a stingy team like Louisville. Wake Forest enters this contest averaging 70.2 ppg, on a modest .420 shooting. The team has done a nice job on the boards though, holding a +9.4 rebounding margin. A lot of that has to do with the play of junior forward Devin Thomas, who ranks second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg), but first in the ACC in rebounding (9.6 rpg). Thomas is joined in double-figure scoring by just one other Demon Deacons, that being junior guard Codi Miller-McIntyre, who leads the team at 13.1 ppg. Wake was able to put up 80 points on Princeton last time out, thanks to a balanced attack that saw five Demon Deacons finish the game in double figures. Freshman forward Konstantinos Mitoglou led the way with 15 points off the bench. Fellow freshmen Mitchell Wilbekin and Cornelius Hudson added 12 points each, followed by Thomas (11 pts) and Darius Leonard (10 pts). Thomas just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, while Miller-McIntyre (nine points, 11 assists) came close as well. ' ' '