Abdelhak Nouri Has Woken Up From Coma After More Than A Year


Abdelhak Nouri has woken up from a year-long coma after collapsing during a football match on July 8, 2017. 

The Ajax midfielder suffered ‘serious and permanent brain damage’ after falling unconscious during the game.

The Dutch club said at the time tests showed the 21-year-old’s heart was ‘functioning normally’ and brain scans did not detect ‘any anomalies’. However Nouri would go on to be comatose for over a year.

He was airlifted to hospital in Austria – where the match was being played.


His brother Abderrahim Nouri, 25, said as per The Sun:

His neurological condition is better than a few months ago. Physically, it’s hard.

He does not move the body, just the head, but sometimes he gets out of bed to sit in his wheelchair. You can communicate with him.

In the beginning we were not allowed to stay with him for a long time. Those are the hospital’s rules. You have visiting hours. But after a while the doctors saw that we as family had a lot of influence on Abdelhak.


He added:

He became calmer. He recognised us. We reassure him, he hears a familiar voice. Since then we can, and do, stay with him 24 hours a day. Because it does him good.

Nouri, who is Dutch-born, played 15 league and cup games for Ajax in 2016-17, scoring one goal in a Dutch Cup tie.

Our thoughts go out to Nouri and his family.