Misr El-Maqasa player Hesham Hafez lost consciousness during his team's match against Tala'a El-Gaish Club, in the Egyptian Premier League, on Monday.
A video clip showed Hafez's head hitting the opposing team's knee during a joint ball, before the match continued normally without any pause.
The player said - in televised statements - "I lost consciousness after falling for 7 or 8 minutes, and avoided falling on my back for fear of swallowing my tongue, then I fell on my face and did not feel anything after."
He added, "I swallowed my tongue, then the doctor of the Army's Vanguard Club pushed it back again, but I could not speak for about 12 minutes... After waking up, I was taken by ambulance to the hospital."
🔥🔥🔥 "I was dying and no one crossed me.. We are not going to play the World Cup final." Hisham Hafez, Egypt's clearing player, recounts the tragic incident he suffered in the Tala'a El-Jaish match# Al-Taltah_Ajham pic.twitter.com/80brk9R2hV
— OnTime Sports (@ONTimeSports) February 14, 2022
For his part, the journalist Ibrahim Fayek expressed his objection to the behavior of the players of the two teams, who continued to play without looking at their colleague who fell in this way on the field.
"I was very surprised, I was dying, and no one crossed me, because we are not playing the World Cup final," the player said, noting that the doctor told him that they saved his life in the last moments.