Brentford Midfielder Shares His Journey to Recovery Following On-Field Collapse During Euros
Christian Eriksen has revealed that he knew just two days after his cardiac arrest during Denmark’s European Championship match against Finland in June that he would return to playing football. The incident, which shocked fans around the world, left Eriksen collapsed on the pitch, requiring urgent medical attention before being rushed to the hospital in Copenhagen.
In the immediate aftermath, Eriksen told his wife, Sabrina, that he might never play football again, but his outlook quickly changed. After being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a device designed to regulate heart rhythms, doctors reassured him that there was hope for his return to the game.
“On the way to the hospital, I told Sabrina I may as well leave my boots here,” Eriksen shared in an interview with Brentford’s club website. “It changed two days later. It was in the moment. I recognized what happened to me later on that night and the next few days. Then all the tests started, and all the knowledge came in. After that, I slowly started to realize I could get back to playing football.”
Despite being unable to continue his career with Inter Milan due to Italian regulations around athletes with ICDs, Eriksen’s medical assessments cleared him for action. He was subsequently signed by Premier League club Brentford on the final day of the January transfer window.
Eriksen’s resilience and determination have been widely praised, as he continues to defy the odds and make his long-awaited comeback to football. With extensive testing showing no complications during physical training, Eriksen is now in “a very good place condition-wise and strength-wise,” and fans are excited to see the 29-year-old back on the pitch.
