Moroccan player Abdelhak Nouri, Ajax Amsterdam midfielder, has returned home after long suffering from permanent brain damage since 2017, Twitter users said on Wednesday.
Nouri, 22, is one of the most promising footballers of Ajax's academy. He is one of the talent players that helped the club reach last season's Champions League semi-finals. But, unfortunately, he has been placed in an induced coma after the incident in a pre-season game in Austria in 2017.
What happened to Nouri?
He suddenly collapsed in a friendly match between Ajax and Werder Bremen in the Austrian town of Zillertal near Innsbruck in Austria.
It took 10 seconds for the referee to realise that he was down and summon for medical attention. Another 10 seconds passed before the Ajax physio arrived. Fifteen seconds later, the club doctor was at Nouri's side too.
When Ajax striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar panicked, the Werder Bremen players reacted too and the German team's doctor also rushed on to the pitch. They formed a circle around Nouri. Some players started crying. Others were praying.
After three minutes of treatment, the players around began to realise this was not a normal injury. Nouri was suffering cardiac arrest. It had taken longer than expected to understand that.
Two local medics arrived and connected a defibrillator around seven minutes after Abdelhak Nouri had collapsed. In the meantime, local doctor Daniel Rainer received a call and rushed to the stadium.
The match - which was cancelled - was the last at a training camp organized under Ajax's new coach Marcel Keizer.
Nouri first made his goal-scoring debut for Ajax in September last year in a Dutch Cup match against Willem II.
He was also named Jupiler Player of the Season 2016-17 for his contribution in the second-tier Jong Ajax or "Young Ajax" team.
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