Leading cardiologist urges Eriksen to stop career: 'He is bound to collapse again'

The 34-year-old Danish midfielder collapsed in the 64th minute of the match after briefly clutching his chest. 

The Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) that was surgically placed in his chest following his near-fatal cardiac arrest at EURO 2020 (played in 2021) detected a severe heart rhythm irregularity and instantly reset his heart rhythm. The intervention meant Eriksen was not in need of extensive on-pitch CPR like his previous collapse in Copenhagen.

Christian Eriksen’s playing future is currently the subject of intense debate, but Henning Molgaard, who is one of Denmark's leading specialists in heart medicine, encourages Eriksen to bring down the curtain on his glorious career.

"Most elite athletes choose to retire after having an ICD implanted. We saw this with Stale Solbakken (current Norwegian national team coach).  As cardiologists, we are not lawmakers, but our clear recommendation—also in light of European and American studies—is that competing in elite sports with an ICD is highly unusual", says Molgaard to Bold.dk.

"We know he (Eriksen) will collapse again at some point. But we simply cannot say with certainty whether the ICD device will be needed to restart his heart in three months, or in three, four, five, or ten years. However, it is going to happen again," says Molgaard, Dr. Med. and a former Senior Consultant at the Department of Cardiology at Skejby Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark.

Christian Eriksen is currently considering his future career after he was relegated with Wolfsburg from the German Bundesliga last season.