Bo Amstrup / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT
A nightmare deja vu unfolded during Denmark’s friendly match against Ukraine on Sunday as midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch. Eriksen infamously suffered cardiac arrest during the Euro 2020 tournament in June 2021 and had to be resuscitated on the field.
The Denmark vs. Ukraine friendly on Sunday, June 7 was abandoned in the 79th minute after Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch. Despite the timing of the friendly, neither Denmark nor Ukraine qualified for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Christian Eriksen fell unconscious during a friendly against Ukraine, five years after having cardiac arrest during Euro tournament
🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Christian Eriksen has collapsed on the pitch during the Denmark vs. Ukraine game.
Prayers for Eriksen. 🙏
— GoalAlert HQ ⚽️ 🥅 (@GoalAlertHQ) June 7, 2026
In the aftermath, the Danish football federation confirmed Eriksen had regained consciousness, was doing well under the circumstances, and was taken to the hospital for examinations. At this time, it is unclear what caused the 34-year-old to lose consciousness.
“Christian is doing well and walked off the pitch by himself. As I see it, the pacemaker responded as it should. He was briefly unconscious, but regained consciousness very quickly, and we were quickly in contact with him,” National team doctor Boesen said in a statement.
“He will now undergo further examinations at the hospital to determine what caused the incident. We are in ongoing contact with him and the doctors at the hospital. But Christian is doing well, and he asked me to send his regards to all the players and tell them that he was okay.”
The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder — who spent this season with Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg — previously suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the pitch during Denmark’s Euro 2020 match against Finland in Copenhagen in June 2021.
After the harrowing incident in 2021, Eriksen was fitted with a special heart-starting device called an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), which is a surgically-placed battery-powered device that continuously monitors heart rhythms and delivers precise electrical pulses or shocks to correct dangerous arrhythmias and prevent sudden cardiac arrest.
Just eight months after his cardiac arrest scare in June 2021, Eriksen was able to relaunch his career with Premier League team Brentford in February 2022, playing in 11 matches for the club through the end of the season. After a successful stint with Brentford, Eriksen spent the next three seasons with Manchester United before joining Wolfsburg for the 2025/26 campaign.