“I was dead for two minutes”: Oscar on his cardiac arrest | OneFootball

On November 11, 2025, Brazilian midfielder Oscar was clinically dead for more than two minutes as a result of a cardiac arrest he suffered in the middle of a training session with São Paulo. That situation prevented him from continuing his football career, so he had to retire at just 34 years old after terminating his contract by mutual agreement. “I only remember hearing my son say, ‘Dad, you have to come back. Dad, you have to come back’”, the former midfielder said about the critical moment he had to face.

“It was like a dream, a different dream… it’s hard to explain. I had always heard that when you are about to die, you see yourself. I didn’t see myself, but I had a very beautiful dream, where everything was wonderful,” he said in an interview with The Times. During that training session, his blood pressure collapsed, his heart stopped, and therefore doctors had to perform CPR on him for several minutes. He was then admitted to intensive care and was discharged on November 16, five days after the episode occurred.

Once he was out of danger, the diagnosis indicated vasovagal syncope, a condition that occurs when the body responds disproportionately to different stimuli such as physical stress or sudden changes in circulation, causing a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure. After undergoing a cardiac ablation, Oscar was able to live a normal life, although far from the life of a professional footballer he had been used to.

The Brazilian had returned to his home country at the beginning of 2025, after eight seasons in the little-known Chinese league, where he played for Shanghai Port. However, he had risen to stardom earlier, when he wore the Chelsea shirt: there he played 203 matches, contributing 38 goals and 31 assists between the 2012 and 2017 seasons. On top of that, he won four titles with the club: two Premier League titles, one Europa League, and one English League Cup.

On the other hand, he also put together an impressive career with the Brazil national team, which lasted from 2011 to 2016. In total, he made 48 appearances and scored 12 goals while wearing the famous yellow shirt. Aside from his participation in the 2014 World Cup, played on home soil, Oscar won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 Confederations Cup.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.