Christian Eriksen collapsed during an international match against Ukraine, five years after he suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch.
The Danish midfielder, 34, who had a cardioverter-defibrillator fitted in his chest after christian-eriksen-what-happened-collapse-euros-2020-match/">the previous incident during a match at the European Championship in 2021, clutched his chest in the 65th minute of the friendly before falling to the turf motionless.
Players from both nations formed a ring around the former Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United player and held up a temporary screen while he was being treated by coaching staff and paramedics. He was able to walk off the pitch into a waiting ambulance.
Both sets of fans applauded Eriksen as he left the field, with some of his Denmark team-mates visibly emotional.
The match, held in the Danish city of Odense, was suspended in the 79th minute with Denmark leading 2-1 before being abandoned completely. The two managers left the pitch together arm in arm.
A statement from the Danish Football Association (DBU) was broadcast across the giant screen at the stadium, reading: “The match is over. Christian Eriksen is in good condition under the circumstances.”
A later update was provided by the Denmark team doctor, Morten Boesen.
“Christian is doing well and walked off the pitch by himself,” said Boesen, who led the successful resuscitation of Eriksen in 2021. “The pacemaker responded as it should. He was briefly unconscious, but regained consciousness very quickly, and we were quickly in contact with him.
“He will now undergo further examinations at the hospital to determine what caused the incident. We are in ongoing contact with him and the doctors at the hospital.
“But Christian is doing well and he asked me to send his regards to all the players and tell them that he was okay.”
The match between Denmark and Ukraine was an end-of-season friendly between two nations who have not qualified for the forthcoming World Cup. Denmark captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, also a former Tottenham midfielder, later described what he saw. “There’s a throw-in, and then I go out to the side,” he said. “I turn around a bit, and I see Christian on his way to the floor, and we know a little about how he reacts, what that means.
“[Everyone] reacted super-fast and with respect. I can only compliment how much courage those who took care of Christian on the field had.”
Eriksen previously collapsed during Denmark’s opening group game of Euro 2021, against Finland. He returned to football the following year after having a cardio-defibrillator fitted, playing a further four Premier League seasons across spells at Brentford and United, with whom he won both the FA Cup and the League Cup.
This year he completed a 35-game season with VfL Wolfsburg in the German Bundesliga and was making his 151st international appearance, an all-time Danish record.
“Everybody at Manchester United is encouraged by Denmark’s update on Christian Eriksen following today’s abandoned friendly against Ukraine,” United wrote in a statement. “The club is sending strength and love to Christian and the Eriksen family as we await further news.”
Tottenham added: “Our thoughts are with Christian Eriksen and his family. Wishing you a full and speedy recovery, Christian. We’re all with you.”
Eriksen is among a number of footballers to have suffered on-field cardiac arrests. In March 2012, Fabrice Muamba collapsed during a televised FA Cup match between Bolton and Spurs. He recovered – with the help of a cardiologist fan who ran on to the White Hart Lane pitch – despite his heart having stopped for 78 minutes in total. Muamba retired later that year and completed a degree in sports journalism before returning to football as a youth coach.
Tom Lockyer, the Luton Town captain, suffered a cardiac arrest during a Premier League match against Bournemouth in December 2023. He was resuscitated and later fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Lockyer had collapsed in the Championship play-off final at Wembley with atrial fibrillation, a less serious heart issue, seven months before his cardiac arrest. He has also continued playing while being monitored by the same doctor as Eriksen.
After recovering from the first incident in 2021, Eriksen said that he remembered everything apart from the five minutes he was unconscious. “I remember the throw-in, the ball hitting my knee and then I don’t know what happened after,” he said. “I woke up with people around me and felt the pressure on my chest, trying to get my breathing back. I didn’t really understand what was going on.
“At that time I had no idea what had happened, then it goes through my head: ‘Did something happen with my legs? Did I break my back? Can I lift my leg up?’ Then in the ambulance I heard someone say: ‘How long was he out for?’ and someone said: ‘Five minutes,’ and that was the first time I had heard I was gone.”
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