Denmark vs Ukraine friendly stopped after Christian Eriksen falls on the field
Christian Eriksen is awake and “doing well given the situation” after he collapsed while playing for Denmark in a friendly match against Ukraine.
The 34-year-old, who had a cardiac arrest during Euro 2020 in a game against Finland, was seen holding his chest in the second half of Sunday’s game in Odense, Denmark. He then fell to the ground, and medics quickly rushed to help him. Players from both teams gathered around him showing support.
Eriksen was treated for about 13 minutes before he stood up on his own. The thousands of fans at Nature Energy Park gave him a standing ovation, cheering his name warmly. The referee, Sigurd Smehus Kringstad, decided to stop the match with around 75 minutes played.
At the time Eriksen collapsed, Denmark was leading 2-1. Patrick Dorgu and Joakim Maehle had scored for Denmark, while Viktor Tsygankov scored for Ukraine before halftime.
Eriksen, now conscious, was taken to the hospital in an ambulance with his wife Sabrina by his side. The Danish Football Association shared a statement saying, “Christian Eriksen is conscious and feeling well under the circumstances. The match has been called off.”
Denmark’s team doctor, Morten Boesen—who helped save Eriksen during his collapse in 2021—also gave an update on social media. He said Eriksen’s pacemaker worked as it should during the incident. “Christian is doing well and walked off the pitch by himself,” Boesen said. “He briefly lost consciousness but woke up quickly. We are now doing more tests at the hospital to understand what caused this.”
Eriksen asked the doctor to send his thanks to everyone and let them know he’s okay.
After his collapse at Euro 2020, Eriksen was given a pacemaker-like device called an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) to help regulate his heart. Dr. Boesen explained that during the Euro 2020 event, Eriksen’s heart had stopped, but they were able to restart it in time. “He was gone, and we did cardiac resuscitation. It was a cardiac arrest,” Boesen said. “How close were we to losing him? I don’t know.”