Soccer player Christian Eriksen is to have an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) device fitted, the Danish football federation has said.

Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch during the Denmark-Finland Euro 2020 match on Saturday.

"After Christian has been through different heart examinations it has been decided that he should have an ICD," doctor Morten Boesen said, adding that such a device was necessary after a cardiac attack due to rhythm disturbances.

The device is an improved variant of a pacemaker. Like a conventional pacemaker it sends out electrical impulses when the heart rate is too slow, in order to avoid a cardiac arrest, and it can also treat a rhythm that is too fast.

In front of the watching TV audience and the fans in the stadium, teammates and then medics worked to save Eriksen's life for more than 15 minutes before he was transferred to hospital.

The team doctor said that at one stage Eriksen "was gone," but the medical staff managed to get his heart restarted using a defibrillator.

Eriksen, Denmark's star player and one of Europe's most creative midfielders, was later well enough in hospital to send messages of reassurance to his teammates.

His Inter Milan club doctor and the Danish team medics said the cause of the cardiac arrest was a mystery, with the 29-year-old's fitness and health having been closely monitored for years, as is normal with professional footballers, and having shown no sign of a problem.

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There has been no public statement on whether or not Eriksen will be able to return to his football career, with the Danish football federation (DBU) asking people to give Eriksen and his family "peace and privacy."

Fellow professional footballer Daley Blind, who is part of the Dutch team at Euro 2020, is one player who has resumed his career after being fitted with the device.

Eriksen "has accepted the solution" of the implant, with the recommendation "confirmed by specialists nationally and internationally who all recommend the same treatment," the DBU said.

The former Ajax and Tottenham player remains in hospital not far from the stadium where his teammates were taking on Belgium on Thursday. 

Meanwhile German doctor Jens Kleinefeld, who treated Eriksen on the pitch after his cardiac arrest, has spoken to the Funke media group, recounting more of the events on Saturday. He said that after heart massage, they used an emergency defibrillator and "about 30 seconds later, the player opened his eyes and I could talk to him directly.

"That was a very moving moment, because in such medical emergencies in everyday life, the chances of success are much lower," Kleinefeld said. 

He then asked Eriksen: "Well, are you back with us?" 

"Yes, I am back with you," he reported Eriksen as replying, adding: "Damn, I'm only 29 years old."

"That's when I knew the brain wasn't damaged and he had fully returned," the doctor said.

Denmark captain Simon Kjaer said football had taken a back seat for the team in the past few days:  "The only thing that is important and really matters, is that Christian is okay.

"Today, we will enter the pitch against Belgium with Christian in our hearts and thoughts... we will play for Christian, and as always for all of Denmark. That is the greatest motivation for us all."