World governing body FIFA has been urged to stop young children from heading footballs and faces an accusation of leaving players vulnerable to brain injuries caused by concussion.

A lawsuit lodged in a California court proposes the restriction on heading the ball because of what it calls an "epidemic of concussive injuries" among youngsters in sport.

It states that players under 17 should not be allowed to head the ball in training - "or be limited in the number per week" - and under-14s "should not head at all, or at a minimum be limited in the number of headers".

Five women are behind the action, named in legal papers as Rachel Mehr, Beata Ivanauskiene, Sarah Aranda, Kira Akka-Seidel and Karen Christine O'Donoghue, with FIFA named as a defendant along with the United States Soccer Federation, US Youth Soccer Association, American Youth Soccer Organisation, National Association of Competitive Soccer Clubs, and the California Youth Soccer Association.

The women are demanding a court order to insist that the Laws of the Game, drawn up by the International Football Association Board, must "provide proper concussion management".

The world and local footballing authorities are accused by the plaintiffs of having "failed to protect players by their failure to enact and enforce best practices" in respect of previous concussion cases.

The papers in the class action complaint civil suit have been lodged at the United States District Court, Northern District of California.

They refer to incidents at the 2014 World Cup where players took blows to the head but were able to continue in matches, including the case of Germany's Christoph Kramer in the final. Kramer took a heavy knock early in the match but was allowed to play on, only to be later substituted, afterwards admitting he could remember little of his involvement.

"At least 30 per cent of concussions in soccer are caused by heading the ball or by attempting to head the ball and colliding with a player, object, or the ground", the lawsuit states.

It adds: "FIFA has extracted, and continues to extract, massive sums of money from the US and California, and has not contributed to protecting the safety of the youth players to which it markets and influences."

The lawsuit, which is not seeking monetary damages, states that heading a football "can result in problems of memory and attention", and warns that youngsters "may be more susceptible to damage resulting from repetitive concussion and sub-concussive brain trauma"

Former England player Jeff Astle died in 2002, and was found by a coroner to have been suffering from brain damage that was caused by repeatedly heading footballs.

Attorney Steve Berman, representing the plaintiffs for the Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro law firm, said: "The medical community called for change over a decade ago and despite simple, best-practice guidelines, which have been updated three times since the initial international conference on concussions, FIFA has failed to enact the policies and rules needed to protect soccer players.

"We believe it is imperative we force these organisations to put a stop to hazardous practices that put players at unnecessary risk."