Drama ensued at Germany’sEuro 2024 encounter with Denmark was temporarily suspended due to adverse weather conditions on Saturday evening. The two teams were engaged in a fierce battle early on, but Premier League referee Michael Oliver brought things to a halt when thunder could be heard roaring, and lightning struck close to the stadium.
The suspension didn’t last long, with play resuming less than 30 minutes after the game was paused, and while there were many online questioning the decision to stop the match over the weather, several within the Denmark party had a very good reason for being unsure about playing under the conditions.
Some fans couldn’t believe that play had been suspended over the lightning and heavy rain that was pouring down onto the pitch, but it’s now been made clear why such precautions have to be taken and how it directly involves several of the Denmark team’s own experiences from several years ago.
He was struck during a match
While the decision to pause things because of the lightning strikes near the stadium looked overly cautious to some, it was the right move to make considering what happened to one Danish footballer in 2009. Jonathan Richter, who was playing for FC Nordsjælland and was coached by Denmark’s now-national team manager Kasper Hjulmand at the time, was struck by lightning in the middle of a game.
The shocking incident resulted in Richter losing a significant portion of his left leg and ending his career as a professional footballer, at just 24 years old, but considering how dangerous lightning can be, things could have been much worse.
The Strike Cause Richter to Go Into Cardiac Arrest
He was in a coma for almost two weeks
While playing a match on July 20, 2009, Richter was struck by lightning in the middle of the pitch and immediately went into cardiac arrest. He was placed into a medically induced coma and remained in that state for almost two weeks. Around a month after the incident, the decision was made to amputate a significant portion of the former footballer’s left leg.
Beforehand, he’d played 70 games for FC Nordsjælland and scored nine times. It was a solid return for the attacking midfielder and while there’s no telling what he’d have gone to accomplish in football had he remained in the sport, it was a devastatingly premature way to end his career at just 24. The former player stayed involved in the sport, though, and from 2015 to 2021, he served as sporting director of FC Græsrødderne in the fourth tier of Danish football.