Edoardo Bove and Fiorentina will relive Italian football's most harrowing episode of recent years on Thursday 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 Stadio Artemio Franchi pitch and rushed him to Florence's Careggi hospital.
Thiago Motta and Edoardo Bove 🥰#JuveFiorentina pic.twitter.com/2YpuDd6rTh
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) December 29, 2024
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 Mediterranean nation.
Wonderful to see Edoardo Bove back with his teammates following his collapse during the Fiorentina v Inter match 🙏👏 pic.twitter.com/r0yKbbpkG2
— Italian Football News 🇮🇹 (@footitalia1) December 14, 2024
Since 1982 it has been mandatory by law for anyone who practises competitive or non-competitive sport of any level – from gym membership right up to Serie A football – 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.
That's because contact sport would be considered dangerous for the athlete in question as the defibrillator could be damaged, for instance, in a tackle or while challenging for a header.
The source told AFP that the mandatory tests for professional and semi-professional athletes can't 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.
'BLACK HOLE'
AFP was told that there is "open debate" among Italian football's wealthier top clubs about making their medical testing more stringent than even those demanded by Italian law and the football federation (FIGC).
However Walter Della Frera, head doctor at Italian footballers' association (AIC) says "there is always a black hole of unpredictability" with testing.
"We can't, even with all these tests, find absolutely everything," he says.
"There are so many situations that can cause a cardiac issue that cannot be predicted. There are other situations in which there could be a heart problem that can't be found neither with an ECG nor during stress tests.
"We cannot do an MRI on everyone to see if there are small scars that can trigger arrhythmia. That would be impossible, economically and in practice."
In the meantime Bove has been given special permission by the FIGC to watch matches from the dugout, where he will be on Thursday, and although he is banned from team training, a source at Fiorentina told AFP that he is otherwise part of the squad, eating with his teammates and on occasion refereeing training matches.
Bove's situation is further complicated by the fact that he is on loan from his boyhood club Roma until the end of June, with Fiorentina having an option to make his transfer permanent but unable to do so before finding out whether he will have to try his hand at playing abroad.
That was what Christian Eriksen did when he was released by Inter Milan in 2021 after his own brush with death during that year's European Championship, playing first with Brentford and then Manchester United in the Premier League.
But while Eriksen is a recognised star and Denmark's most-capped player, Bove is yet to make 100 league appearances and has never even played senior international football, limiting his options should an anxious wait end with his and Fiorentina's worst fears confirmed.