FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Italian soccer club Fiorentina says midfielder Edoardo Bove is awake and "alert” after being placed in a medically induced coma following his collapse during a game on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Bove collapsed on the field in the 16th minute of a Serie A match against Inter Milan. He was carried off on a stretcher to an ambulance near the pitch and taken to Careggi Hospital in Florence. The game was abandoned.
“Edoardo Bove, following an uneventful night, was awakened and extubated this morning. He is currently awake, alert and oriented,” the team said on X.
“He has spoken with his family, club management, the coach and his teammates, who all rushed to go and see him as soon as they heard the good news," the club wrote. "Further tests will be carried out in the coming days to establish what led to the critical situation that took place yesterday.”
Fiorentina's next match is on Wednesday at home against Empoli in the Italian Cup. There was some debate in Italy over whether the Fiorentina players would feel mentally ready to return to the field and Empoli President Fabrizio Corsi said he wouldn't be against postponing the match.
However, Fiorentina director Alessandro Ferrari said Bove had asked his teammates to play. Most of them visited him on Monday — as well as Sunday evening — and he also had a video call with them later when they were at training.
“Fiorentina has announced that, following the reassuring news that came today and after the video call that Edoardo Bove had with all his teammates, the coach and his staff as well as the team have decided to return to the pitch immediately and prepare for the match against Empoli on Wednesday,” the club said in a statement.
“President Rocco Commisso is in constant contact with the club’s directors and Edoardo’s family and has been reassured by the boy’s father about his health conditions.”
Bove is a product of the Roma youth academy and joined Fiorentina on loan in the offseason with the option to make the move permanent.
He has scored one goal in 11 Serie A games this season.
“We are much more relaxed and happy, we saw the boy this morning, we spoke with him, he's lucid, awake, with his usual desire to laugh and joke," Ferrari said. "The situation obviously has to remain under control ... but the boy is OK.
“From a medical point of view, all the next tests following what happened are going on, but what's good is that after Bove spent the night intubated he was able to wake up on his own, aware, lucid, without the use of machines.”
There have been continuous messages of support since the incident. Fans gathered outside the hospital on Sunday and displayed a banner that read; “Forza Edoardo, Florence is with you.”
That banner has now been moved inside the hospital, with the permission of medical staff and has been hung up outside Bove's room, in the intensive care unit.
“Fiorentina would like to thank Careggi University Hospital and all of the doctors and staff for the wonderful humanity and professionalism they have shown,” the club added.
“The club would also like to thank the wider Fiorentina family and the entire world of football who, during this difficult time, have shown great sympathy and care through their messages and support, which have been of great comfort to both to the club and Edoardo and his family.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Emotional players comfort each other as Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is taken to hospital during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. The match was suspended and finally postponed. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)
Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is surrounded by players after collapsing during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024 (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)
Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is surrounded by players after collapsing during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024 (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's the final holiday stretch for President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, who has decked out the White House with some whimsical decorations to evoke the “peace and light” of the season.
The festive display includes a towering Christmas tree surrounded by a carousel, brass-colored bells and sleigh bells lining a hallway and a ceiling design that mimics snowfall.
The White House held a media preview for journalists on Monday before the first lady formally unveils the decorations later in the day. The theme is “A Season of Peace and Light.”
“As we celebrate our final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values we hold sacred: faith, family, service to our country, kindness towards our neighbors, and the power of community and connection,” the Bidens wrote in a commemorative holiday guidebook that will be given to all visitors. The White House expects about 100,000 people to visit this month.
More than 300 volunteers spent past week decorating the White House's public spaces and its 83 Christmas trees with nearly 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of ribbon, more than 28,000 ornaments, over 2,200 paper doves and some 165,000 lights used on wreaths, garlands and other displays.
The official White House tree, a towering Fraser fir from North Carolina that was anchored to the ceiling of the Blue Room after a chandelier was removed, sits at the center of a colorful amusement park-style carousel with reindeer, swans and other animals bobbing up and down on poles. The tree is decorated with twinkling multicolored lights and three-dimensional holiday sweets like peppermints and ribbon candies. It also sports the names of every U.S. state, territory and the District of Columbia.
Guests will enter the White House beneath a rotating starlight and quickly come upon the Gold Star tree, honoring the families of fallen service members. The tree is made of six gold-toned stars, one for each of the six branches of the military, stacked one on top of the other.
The bells lining the East Colonnade hallway are meant to symbolize the sounds of the holidays. The ceiling and windows upstairs in the East Room are covered with reflective decorations designed to create the feeling of snow falling. Silhouettes of people holding hands decorate the bases of two large Christmas trees that flank the center door of the room.
Light shines through colored glass ornaments and prisms in the Green Room while paper doves in the Red Room carry messages of peace. Doves are also suspended overhead along the Cross Hall, which runs between the East Room and the State Dining Room.
In the State Dining Room, a starburst made out of sugar shines above the massive gingerbread White House, which includes snow-covered South Grounds dotted with dozens of twinkling mini Christmas trees and a scene of people ice skating in a rink on the South Lawn.
The sugary confection — which is for display purposes only and never eaten — was built using 25 sheets of gingerbread dough, 10 sheets of sugar cookie dough, 65 pounds (29.48 kilograms) of pastillage, a sugar paste, 45 pounds (20.41 kilograms) of chocolate, 50 pounds (22.68 kilograms) of royal icing, and 10 pounds (4.54 kilograms) of gum paste.
As part of Joining Forces, Jill Biden's White House initiative to support military families, the first lady invited National Guard families to be the first members of the public to experience the holiday decor. The Bidens' late son, Beau, served in the Delaware Army National Guard. He died of brain cancer in 2015.
Biden is set to leave office on Jan. 20.
The Red Room of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The Red Room of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The East Colonnade of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The Vermeil Room of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The Library of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The East Garden Room of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The East Garden Room of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The East Colonnade of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The Library of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The East entrance of the White House in Washington, is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Trees in the Cross Hall frame the doorway to the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, as everything is decorated for the holidays, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden speaks as first lady Jill Biden listens on the South Lawn of the White House during a ceremony to commemorate World AIDS Day with survivors, their families and advocates, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Joe Biden accompanied by his family from left, Melissa, Hunter Biden, grandson Beau and First Lady Jill Biden, applauds during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Nantucket Mass., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
