A Spanish third-division match between Cordoba and Racing de Ferrol was suspended on Saturday after Serbian defender Dragisa Gudelj suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch.
He is only 25 years old.
Dragisa Gudelj is the brother of Serbia midfielder Nemanja Gudelj who plays for Sevilla.
An ambulance immediately responded and drove onto the field to assist Gudelj, and then transported him to a nearby hospital once his condition had stabilized.
Doctors performed CPR on the field and successfully revived Gudelj. They treated him for seven minutes, including cardiac massage, until the ambulance arrived, according to Marca.
The club later said that Gudelj is “stable” but under “close surveillance” in the ICU.
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Marca reported [Translation]:
Dragisa Gudelj is “stable” after being treated at the Emergency Department of the Reina Sofía University Hospital, according to the entity. However, the center-back “is going to go to the UCI for close surveillance ,” according to the press department.
The CEO of Córdoba, Javier González Calvo, confirmed after the meeting that the player arrived “conscious and stable” at the hospital and that he was going to be “tested” throughout the evening. “He’s been in cardiac arrest for a while ,” although “by the time he left the stadium he was fully conscious” and “wanted to play the game.”
“We have decided that, as is normal, they will take him away. In the next few hours we will give more news about Dragi, which we all hope will recover as soon as possible,” he added.
Nothing about a 25-year-old – especially an athlete – suffering cardiac arrest is “normal”.
