Footballers are dumb, says UK study

New Delhi: The entire world is in the grip of football mania as the FIFA World Cup starts in the German city of Munich a few hours later.

But that has not stopped a new study from poking fun at the intellectual abilities of these soccer stars.

A study by the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), a UK government-run scheme that awards study grants to teenagers, says footballers are educationally less qualified than leading players in most of Britain's top sports.

The study points out that cyclists have emerged as the most brainy among the 12 sports evaluated as part of the exercise.

They had earned degrees and back-up qualifications as cycling is considered a risky sport with lesser chances to make big money, The Times said in London on Wednesday.

Just behind the cyclists in brainpower were golfers, rowers, athletes and cricketers.

For the record, tennis, rugby union, rugby league, boxing and horse-racing outperformed football when it came to players having more grey matter.

But footballers need not despair. At number 12, snooker players fared even worse than they did in the 'dumb' department.

The ill-timed report is sure to have football fans frothing at the mouth, while those who abhor the hype and hoopla around World Cup could be rubbing their hands in glee.

Unbelievable as it is, perhaps the study should throw light on this little fact: Why the great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar failed the high school exams while 80s soccer sensation from Brazil, Socrates, is a qualified doctor.