Rome  - A retired Serie B footballer has said he contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a nervous-system disease with an unusually high incidence among former Italian players.

Italian media reported Thursday that Stefano Turchi, 40, a forward with Ancona between 1990 and 1992 has suffered from ALS since 2005.

Turchi, in an interview with the Ancona-based newspaper Corriere Adriatico, said he considers himself lucky to have been hit by a less aggressive form of the illness that still allows him to talk and walk.

"My legs would respond to commands with slowness," he said. "I began a series of examinations. The diagnosis came a year and a half later (in 2007)."

The condition is also called Lou Gehrig's Disease, from the US baseball star who died from it in 1941.

It causes muscles to gradually cease functioning until patients lose control of all voluntary movement, although cognitive function is often unaffected.

"I'm not resigned," Turchi said. "I do all the necessary treatments, even though I know well that a cure has not been found despite the many steps forward done by research."

Turchi said he never took doping drugs, but often used anti- inflammatories. He added he doesn't blame football for his illness and that he knows of six or seven cases of former footballers who won't declare to be suffering from ALS.

"I did it because I hope to be useful in the fight against the illness and get some help. ALS is costly," he said.

Researchers studying ALS have found that the incidence of the disease among footballers is about 18 times higher than among the general Italian population.

Some 40 former footballers have been diagnosed with ALS in recent years, although it remains unclear what may have caused their illness. (dpa)