Denmark, Belgium stop match to cheer for Christian Eriksen who collapsed on field last week
Danish player to get defibrilator implant; Belgium tops Denmark
The fans cheered for Christian Eriksen in Copenhagen’s streets and parks, and they called out his name in the stands at Parken Stadium. And, in the 10th minute, the players from Denmark and Belgium even stopped their match to cheer for him right alongside them.
They all cheered loud enough, in that moment, that Eriksen probably could have heard them if he opened the window in his hospital room less than a mile away. He has remained there since Saturday, when he collapsed on the field in cardiac arrest during a Euro 2020 soccer match. And while Eriksen’s Denmark teammates returned to field on Thursday, falling to Belgium, 2-1, in an emotional match, he will remain in the hospital for a while longer.
On Thursday morning, Denmark’s team doctor said that Eriksen will have a defibrillator implanted to help prevent future heart episodes.
The device, an implantable car di overt er defibrillator, or I CD, will be placed under Eriksen’s skin and monitor his heart rhythm. A combination pacemaker and defibrillator, the device tracks a person’s heartbeat and can send electrical pulses to restore a normal rhythm as needed.
“After Christian has been through different heart examinations, it has been decided that he should have an ICD (heart starter),” the doctor, Morten Boesen, said in a statement released by Denmark’s soccer federation. “This device is necessary after a cardiac attack due to rhythmic disturbances.”
“Christian has accepted the solution,” it added.
The announcement came hours before Denmark took the field to play Belgium at Parken Stadium, the same arena where Eriksen had collapsed during a game against Finland only five days earlier.
Eriksen was a constant presence at the match: Thousands of fans arrived wearing his No. 10 jersey, a giant replica of which was carried onto the field before the game to the cheers of fans of both teams. Eriksen was believed to be watching from his hospital room less than a mile away, close enough to hear the cheers of the game, and the chants of his name.
Belgium was thinking of him, too. Its captain, Jan Vertonghen, one of several former club teammates of Eriksen’s in Belgium’s team, arrived for the pregame coin toss with a framed team jersey signed by its players. Vertonghen, who played with Eriksen for several years at England’s Tottenham Hotspur, presented it to his Danish counterpart, Simon Kjaer.
Denmark’s players formed a tight circle in the moments before kickoff, steeling themselves for what lay ahead. Two minutes into the match, a week’s worth of emotions were released when Yussuf Poulsen fired a low shot into the net to give Denmark a 1-0 lead.
In the 10th minute, Belgium’s players kicked the ball out of play to stop the game as a tribute to Eriksen, joining the crowd for a standing ovation for nearly a minute. Several Belgian players, including striker Romelu Lukaku, Eriksen’s attacking partner at the Italian champion Inter Milan, have played alongside Eriksen for European club teams.
“All of Denmark is with you, Christian,” read a long banner in Danish that was unfurled in the stands behind one goal.