The Danish Football Association is urging the European football governing body, UEFA, to change the rules of the game to properly provide a cover for a situation that might look like what happened to Christian Eriksen.
Recall that on June 12, Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during a European Championship match between Denmark and Finland. He was treated on the pitch for minutes before he was taken to a hospital.
After the incident, the match was halted for over two hours before it restarted from the last five minutes of the first half. Denmark and Finland whose players were emotional after Christian Eriksen collapsed, had to play the remaining 50 minutes of the game on the same day the incident happened.
Unfortunately for Denmark who was most affected since it was one of their most important players that collapsed towards the end of the first half, the match ended 1-0 in favor of Finland.
Since then, the argument of the people from the side of Denmark has been that UEFA did not give the players a choice to either return to the game or abandon it.
However, it was confirmed that UEFA gave Denmark three options when Christian Eriksen collapsed which were: for them to forfeit the game and be awarded 3-0 defeat; play the remaining 50 minutes of the game two hours after the incident; or the game should be rescheduled for noon the next day.
Denmark players and football stakeholders claimed that they had no choice but to choose the least negative option from the three options UEFA gave to Denmark which was to play it two hours after the incident.
In the argument of the chairman of the Danish FA, Jesper Moller, UEFA need to change its procedure for handling such a case if it ever happens in the future. He said it was not fair that players and coaches were placed in such a situation by UEFA when they were under tension over the life of Eriksen.
“That is a situation players and coaches should not be put in,” the FA chairman said. “It is not and should not be their decision.
“It was a wrong decision and completely untenable that the players had to be on the field so soon after the horrible experience.
“We now want an evaluation of the entire decision-making process so that we can get all the relevant facts and information on the table.
“We must look at a change in the rules to ensure that we are never in the same situation again. We are ready to present a resolution to Uefa.”
Futballnews has reported that Christian Eriksen is recovering steadily and has taken to social media to appreciate those who are wishing him well after he suffered a cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark.
A message from @ChrisEriksen8.
— DBU – En Del Af Noget Større (@DBUfodbold) June 15, 2021
♥️🤍 pic.twitter.com/WDTHjqE94w
Unfortunately for the former Tottenham Hotspur player who now plays for Inter Milan, he would have to watch via TV when Denmark play their next Euro 2020 game which will be against Belgium on Thursday, June 17, at 17:00.
