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  6.  » Fabrice Nsakala of Besiktas recovering in hospital after on-field collapse

Above: an ambulance crew attend to Fabice Nsakala

Reuters – Aug 22, 2021

The Besiktas defender Fabrice Nsakala is recovering in hospital after the Democratic Republic of Congo international collapsed on the pitch in their meeting with Gaziantepspor on Saturday, the Turkish Super Lig club said on Sunday.

The left-back Nsakala went to ground in the 70th minute of the match, sparking concern among teammates and opposition players, before being taken to a hospital in an ambulance. The match finished 0-0. Besiktas did not state the reason for the 31-year-old’s collapse.

“The early reports have shown that he’s in better condition and doing quite well,” the club said in a statement, and thanked well-wishers for their concern. Nsakala tweeted a picture of himself on a hospital bed, smiling while having tests.

The incident follows Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen’s collapse due to a cardiac arrest while playing against Finland on the opening weekend of Euro 2020 two months ago. Eriksen received life-saving treatment on the pitch before having an defibrillator device fitted.

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Commentary – Aug 22, 2021

After Eriksen collapsed a tweet appeared claiming that he had been vaccinated against Covid-19 a few weeks before the game:

Click to enlarge

“Fact checkers” and the corporate media immediately went into overdrive to deny the claim. However, that doesn’t alter the fact that vaccination against Covid-19 is now required of professional football players, at least in England. So it’s entirely possible that this is happening elsewhere and the Danish football team were also vaccinated.

We don’t know if Fabrice Nsakala’s Turkish team Besiktas required that players be vaccinated, but we do know that they encouraged fans to get vaccinated. So given that soccer players are expected to set an example, it’s quite likely that Nsakala was vaccinated too.