Denmark doctor: Eriksen 'doing well' after collapsing on pitch again

Christian Eriksen is expected to be discharged from hospital soon after he collapsed on the pitch and was briefly unconscious during Denmark's friendly against Ukraine on Sunday.

The incident occurred five years after the midfielder suffered cardiac arrest during a European Championship meeting with Finland. He was fitted with a pacemaker the week after that match in June 2021.

"I spoke with Christian this morning, and he is doing well," Denmark's national team doctor, Morten Boesen, said in a statement Monday.

"He is with his family and in good spirits. The expectation is that he will be discharged soon and can return home."

Eriksen, 34, appeared to clutch his chest before falling to the ground in the 65th minute of Sunday's fixture in Odense, Denmark. Boesen noted Sunday that he "walked off the pitch by himself."

"As I see it, the pacemaker responded as it should," Boesen explained. "He was briefly unconscious but regained consciousness very quickly, and we were quickly in contact with him."

The match was abandoned with Denmark leading 2-1. Eriksen, who plays for German club Wolfsburg, started the game for his 151st international cap.

Andrew Todos, a journalist who covers Ukrainian soccer and attended the match, told The Athletic's Colin Millar that "a number of Danish players were in tears" and some Ukraine players were "clearly distraught" as well.

Joakim Maehle and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were on the pitch for Eriksen's previous collapse as well as the one that occurred Sunday. Defenders Andreas Christensen and Joachim Andersen were also present at both matches.

Boesen said in 2021 that Eriksen "was gone" after collapsing shortly before halftime of the Euro 2020 game in Copenhagen. The then-Inter Milan star was revived after one pulse from a defibrillator, which is "quite quick," the doctor added.

Eriksen returned to playing professional football with Brentford in the Premier League around eight-and-a-half months later. He scored in his comeback for Denmark in March 2022. Later that year, he played three matches before Denmark was eliminated from the World Cup in Qatar.

He's played over 40 times for Denmark since his cardiac arrest.

The veteran playmaker represented Manchester United for three seasons before joining Wolfsburg last summer. Eriksen started his career with Ajax, where he won three Eredivisie titles, and then became a Tottenham Hotspur fan favorite over more than six campaigns with the north London club. He won the Serie A title with Inter Milan shortly before his cardiac arrest.