UEFA Awards 2021: Denmark captain Simon Kjaer, medical team to receive President’s awards for Eriksen incident – The medical team that saved the life of Denmark player Christian Eriksen at Euro 2020, and Danish national team captain Simon Kjaer, are among recipients of the 2021 UEFA President’s Award.
The accolade is a mark of homage for their vital contributions in coming to Eriksen’s aid when the 29-year-old Inter Milan midfielder suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field during Denmark’s UEFA EURO 2020 group stage match against Finland at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on June 12, UEFA announced on Tuesday. Thanks to the medical team’s rapid response and expert emergency treatment, Eriksen was resuscitated on the pitch, and is now happily on the road to recovery. Simon Kjaer shares the honour for his reaction in immediately helping Eriksen, as well as for the exceptional leadership qualities he displayed.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin described the recipients of the award – which recognises outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities – as “the true heroes of EURO 2020. It is indeed a great honour for me to present them with the UEFA President’s Award.”
“This year, the President’s Award transcends football,” he said, as per UEFA.com. “It serves as an important and eternal reminder of just how precious life is and puts everything in our lives into the clearest perspective,” he added.
This year’s UEFA President’s Award serves as a fitting tribute to the medical staff who were on-site at the Euro match in Copenhagen, both for their expertise and their application of the specialist training that had prepared them for such an incident.
The medical team responded swiftly, and Eriksen was resuscitated through the deployment of the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) technique and a defibrillator before he was stretchered off and taken to hospital.
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“We rushed to the field to help [Christian] and to do our job,” said Mogens Kreutzfeldt, chief medical officer for UEFA EURO 2020 in Copenhagen. “We did what we should, what we were taught, what we were trained to do.”
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