A top flight Italian soccer match has been suspended after a 22-year-old player collapsed suddenly on the pitch.
Eduardo Bove, an Italian midfielder who represents Serie A side Fiorentina, collapsed during a match against Inter Milan on Sunday afternoon.
The players soon gathered around him and tried to protect him from the media, many of them appearing visibly shaken.
Paramedics arrived shortly afterwards and took him away in an ambulance. His condition remains unknown.
Fiorentina’s Edoardo Bove seems to have collapsed on the pitch. The players and medical staff have formed a wall around the midfielder while the medical professionals attend to the situation. pic.twitter.com/pcU3ITfc8M
— Samuel (@SamuelIse3) December 1, 2024
Tributes and well wishes for the young man poured in across social media.
Prayers for Edoardo Bove who was down in the Fiorentina and Inter Milan game today. This is very sad ♂️
pic.twitter.com/VJ9zSR6Zda— Tema Mayor (@Pro_designer_) December 1, 2024
Fiorentina-Inter has been suspended.
Prayers with Edoardo Bove. pic.twitter.com/WHeIFoGlbG
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 1, 2024
Awful scenes in Florence. Edoardo Bove collapsed on the pitch, untouched. Paramedics have taken him away. Fiorentina-Inter game suspended, players appear badly shaken. Both teams back in the dressing room.
— Gabriele Marcotti (@Marcotti) December 1, 2024
Such incidents have sadly become commonplace over the past few years, with an alarming number of young athletes collapsing on the field or dying suddenly of undisclosed conditions.
Just last month, Abdelaziz Barrada, who played for the Moroccan national team, died of a heart attack aged 35. No further details about his death were ever provided.
Back in June, Matija Sarkic, a goalkeeper who played for the English side Millwall and the Montenegro national team, collapsed at his apartment in Budva and was pronounced dead shortly after. He was just 26.
In December 2021, four young players died in the space of a week, all after suffering unexplained heart attacks.
Among them were the Croatian star Marin Cacic, Oman international player Mukhaled Al-Raqadi, Egyptian goalkeeper Ahmed Amin, and the Algerian Sofiane Loukar.
Let’s pray that this time is different and Edoardo Bove makes it through.
