Denmark’s Christian Eriksen collapses during football friendly in Copenhagen
“Christian Eriksen is conscious and is doing well under the circumstances,” the federation said on Sunday in a statement on X, adding that the friendly had been called off.
Monday June 8, 2026
Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during a friendly against Ukraine, prompting an immediate halt to the match, though the Danish Football Federation later said he had regained consciousness.
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“Christian Eriksen is conscious and is doing well under the circumstances,” the federation said on Sunday in a statement on X, adding that the friendly had been called off.
The game was around 20 minutes into the second half when Eriksen fell to the ground. Silence swept through the stadium as players from Denmark and Ukraine quickly gathered around the midfielder.
Medical staff rushed on to the field and, after receiving treatment, Eriksen was eventually able to walk to an ambulance.
“Christian is doing well and walked from the field himself. As I see it, the pacemaker is working as it should. He was briefly gone, but very quickly regained consciousness, and we were quickly in contact with him,” team doctor Morten Boesen told Danish media.
“He will now be examined further in the hospital to find out what caused the incident,” Boesen said, adding that Eriksen “asked me to talk to all the players and say that he was okay”.
Previous incident
The collapse was the second time in five years the 34-year-old has gone down during a match.
In 2021, Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest in a European championship game in Copenhagen and was given life-saving CPR treatment. He was later fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD), a device designed to restart the heart if needed.
He later ended his career in Italy, where he had played for Inter Milan, before recovering and returning to professional football in 2022.
Neither Denmark nor Ukraine qualified for this year’s World Cup.
