Soccer star Christian Eriksen was at home with family and “doing well” he said on Monday, a day after collapsing on the field again while playing for Denmark.
The reassuring health update by 34-year-old Eriksen came after he clutched his chest with both hands in an off-the-ball action in the 65th minute of a friendly against Ukraine in Odense on Sunday. After dropping to the ground, Eriksen received medical attention as fellow players formed a circle around him.
He then walked off the field by himself and was taken to the hospital, where he underwent more tests. He had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted to support his heart after suffering a cardiac arrest during a European Championship match in 2021.
After updates by the team physician via statements from the Danish soccer federation, Eriksen himself posted for the first time on social media.
“I want to let everyone know that I am doing well and that I am home with my family,” he wrote on Instagram.
“As you can probably imagine, receiving a shock from my ICD has had a major effect on both me and my family, but I want to assure everyone that this was a different situation from what happened in 2021.”
Eriksen said his “recovery has already started.”
“In addition to being grateful for the support and assistance of all the players and the medical team on the field, I am also incredibly grateful to the doctors who have cared for me and my heart over the years,” he wrote.
“Thanks to their expertise, my ICD did exactly what it was designed to do: protect me when I needed it.”
Eriksen said he focus now was on “recovering, spending time with my family, going on vacation, and playing football with my children.”
Danish PM and players send best wishes
In a post on Facebook late Sunday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen wrote she was “sending my warmest thoughts to Christian Eriksen and to all those around him who are affected.”
She adding that she had been relieved to hear an update on his condition after the initial shock of his latest health incident.
Argentina striker Lautaro Martinez and Manchester United players Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire were among the players to react to Eriksen’s Instagram post on Monday with well-wishes.
The game on Sunday was abandoned with no further play following Eriksen’s collapse after the referee conferred with staff and players from both teams. Denmark was leading 2-1 at the time.
Neither team qualified for the 2026 World Cup beginning this week in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
How Eriksen resumed playing with ICD
Eriksen was fitted with an ICD in the months after suffering his cardiac arrest during Denmark’s group game against Finland in the European Championship five years ago.
An ICD is described by the British Heart Foundation as a “small electrical device that can treat people with dangerously abnormal heart rhythms.”
The device is put under the skin in the chest, near the collarbone, the foundation said, and can give electrical pulses to help your heart beat normally if it notices an abnormal heart rhythm.
Commenting after Eriksen’s collapse on Sunday, Denmark team physician Morten Boesen said “as I see it, the pacemaker responded as it should.”
There has been no further information from team officials about what exactly caused Eriksen to clutch his chest.
Italian health regulations prohibit players from playing with a fitted ICD, so Eriksen had to leave his Italian team — Inter Milan — to resume his playing career after the 2021 incident.
That happened in England with Brentford in 2022, before three years at Manchester United (2022-25), which he left as a free agent last year.
His current team is Wolfsburg in Germany, where he has a contract through the 2026-27 season. The team, which was relegated from the top-tier Bundesliga last month, wished him a swift recovery Sunday.
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AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth in Dusseldorf, Germany, contributed to this report.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
