Edoardo Bove’s future uncertain after heart attack horror as Fiorentina finish Inter Milan clash

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MILAN – Edoardo Bove and Fiorentina will relive Italian football’s most harrowing episode of recent years on Feb 6, when the Viola complete their home match with Inter Milan, which was interrupted in December when the midfielder suffered a heart attack on the pitch.

The 22-year-old will be watching from the bench as Inter try to join Napoli at the top of the table in the remaining 74 minutes of a fixture stopped by his collapse in front of distraught players and fans, who watched in horror as medics dashed onto the pitch and rushed him to Florence’s Careggi hospital.

That quick response saved Bove’s life but his future in football is still uncertain as he awaits the results of a raft of tests carried out during his two-week stay in intensive care.

Bove left hospital with a defibrillator which could be removed if deemed safe to do so, but if the test results show he has to have one permanently installed, his career in Italy will almost certainly be over due to the stringent health regulations which govern sport in the country.

Since 1982 it has been mandatory by law for anyone who practises competitive or non-competitive sport of any level to be in possession of a certificate which deems that individual healthy enough to participate.

For professional athletes, the criteria for the certificates is established by each sport’s governing body and goes beyond what is required by law.

Footballers have to undergo a battery of heart exams including an ultrasound, a form of medical imaging, a three-minute step test which is either monitored or preceded and followed by an ECG, and blood tests.

A source who works on the medical staff at a Serie A club told AFP that there is “little to zero chance” that a footballer with a heart condition which required the installation of a defibrillator, essential to ensure a regular heartbeat, would be given permission to play in Italy.

The source also said that the mandatory tests for professional and semi-professional athletes cannot detect every single heart problem because more complicated tests would increase costs, not just for the top Serie A clubs but for teams in lower down the football pyramid where finances are much tighter.

And even with further testing, Walter Della Frera, head doctor at Italian footballers’ association (AIC), believes that “there is always a black hole of unpredictability”.

“We can’t, even with all these tests, find absolutely everything,” he said. “There ...

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