Denmark’s Christian Eriksen collapses on pitch vs Ukraine, match called off

2 min readUpdated: Jun 8, 2026 12:20 AM IST

Christian Eriksen collapsed during Denmark’s opening game at the European Championship in 2021. (Reuters Photo/File)

Denmark’s Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch in a match vs Ukraine on Saturday, leading to match getting called off. He was conscious, the Danish Football Federation said in ​a social ​media post.

“Christian ⁠Eriksen is conscious and is doing ‌well under the circumstances,” the federation said in a statement on X. Neither Denmark nor Ukraine have qualified for the World Cup.

TV images showed the 34-year-old Erikson clutching his chest with both hands in the 65th minute of Denmark’s international friendly against Ukraine at Nature Energy Park in Odense. In the next TV image shown, Erikson was on the ground, surrounded by players.

🚨 Danish Federation announce Christian Eriksen is “conscious and doing well under the circumstances”.

Thoughts and prayers with him ❤️ pic.twitter.com/MClrnb6Qev

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 7, 2026

The incident brought back horrible memories from 2021 when Eriksen had collapsed ⁠during a ‌Euro 2020 match vs Finland in Copenhagen ‌and was given life-saving CPR ‌treatment.

I hope he considers retirement after this incident, so sad man❤️🙏 pic.twitter.com/hcypvjPJjY

— Kai (@katrinahkai) June 7, 2026

His collapse, which came in the 43rd minute of the match against Finland, led to the game being suspended for about 90 minutes before both teams made the decision to play on. Finland went on to win 1-0 after Joel Pohjanpalo scored in the 60th minute and goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky later saved a penalty. But in the end, the result seemed merely an afterthought.

Eriksen was ​later ​fitted ​with a special heart-starting device ​known as an Implantable ⁠Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD).

(More to follow)