Mohamed Salah's former team-mate Ahmed Refaat suffers on-pitch heart attack and stops breathing 'for more than an hour' as Egyptian Premier League game is suspended due to shocking incident

The 30-year-old forward, who has nine senior caps for Egypt to his name, formed part of the Modern Future FC squad that took in an Egyptian Premier League game with Ittihad of Alexandria on Monday. He started that fixture on the bench, but was introduced just after the hour mark.

Refaat suffered a scary collapse two minutes from the end of the match and was rushed to hospital, leading to the game in question being suspended. He has been placed in intensive care, with his condition being closely monitored by medical professionals.

Modern Future FC have said in a statement relayed by KingFut: “Ahmed Refaat’s heart stopped for more than an hour, despite all resuscitation attempts by the medical staff at Zamzam Hospital near the stadium before his heart rate improved gradually. However, his condition is still medically unstable, which prevents his transfer. Unless his health condition stabilises, the player will continue to receive treatment and undergo the necessary tests. The club are following the situation on a momentary basis from the hospital, and everyone will be updated immediately. We would like to call on the media to respect the player’s personal life as well as his health and ask the Egyptian football fans to pray for Ahmed Refaat to be safe and sound as soon as possible.”

Refaat, who has played alongside Liverpool superstar Salah when representing his country, previously won the Egyptian Cup and Super Cup while on the books of Zamalek and has been with Modern Future FC since October 2021.