Christian Eriksen collapsed during Denmark's friendly against Ukraine on Sunday, briefly losing consciousness before his implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) kicked in, allowing him to walk off the pitch and into an ambulance.
The 34-year-old Wolfsburg midfielder, who suffered a cardiac arrest during Euro 2020, put his hand on his chest and fell to the floor in the 65th minute at Odense Stadium. Both sets of players immediately formed a protective ring around him as medics rushed to his side. The referee abandoned the match shortly after.
“Christian Eriksen collapsed during Denmark's friendly but is conscious and 'doing well' after his pacemaker intervened.”
“I saw the situation out of the corner of my eye and just thought that Christian was tackled,” Denmark manager Brian Riemer said. “But I realised that it was something completely different.”
Denmark’s national team doctor Morten Boesen, who led the resuscitation effort in 2021, confirmed the device worked as intended. “As I see it, the pacemaker responded as it should. He was briefly unconscious, but regained consciousness very quickly, and we were quickly in contact with him,” Boesen said. “He will now undergo further examinations at the hospital to determine what caused the incident.”
Eriksen, who was winning his 151st cap, was able to walk from the field and was taken to hospital with his wife Sabrina by his side. Riemer immediately went to visit him.
“Christian is doing well, and he asked me to send his regards to all the players and tell them that he was OK,” Boesen added.
Denmark captain Pierre-Emile Højbjerg described the moment he saw Eriksen go down. “There’s a throw-in, and then I go out to the side. 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,” he told Danish broadcaster TV2. “I can only compliment how much courage those who took care of Christian on the field had. The most important thing is that Christian is doing well.”
Eriksen was fitted with an ICD after his cardiac arrest during a European Championship match against Finland in 2021. The device allowed him to resume his career at Brentford eight months later, then Manchester United, and now Wolfsburg. He had been dropped by Denmark last year but earned a recall after strong form.
The friendly, an end-of-season match between two sides who have not qualified for the World Cup, was abandoned with Denmark leading 2-1 through goals from Patrick Dorgu and Joakim Maehle, after Viktor Tsygankov pulled one back for Ukraine. Eriksen had hoped to appear at a fourth World Cup this summer, but Denmark failed to qualify after a penalty shootout defeat to Czechia.