Ajax has reached a financial settlement with the family of former player Abdelhak Nouri, who suffered severe and permanent brain damage after collapsing during a preseason friendly in 2017.
The Dutch football club previously acknowledged that Nouri did not get adequate medical attention after he suffered a heart attack and accepted responsibility.
It announced on Monday it will pay Nouri’s family a net sum of €7.85 million in damages and loss of potential future earnings.
The settlement brought an end to the Nouri’s family case, which began at the Dutch football association’s arbitration commission in June 2018. Ajax has paid medical and other care costs for Nouri since 2017.
According to local media, Nouri’s situation had improved significantly by early 2020, when he was able to return to his family.
Nouri — a talented midfielder — was just 20 years old when he collapsed against Werder Bremen in Austria. He made his debut for Ajax in September 2016 and had played 15 games for the first team.
The club gave his name to a trophy that is awarded each year to the most talented player at the Ajax academy and the first team retired the No. 34 jersey that Nouri wore.
“It is good that an agreement has been reached so that we can conclude this,” Ajax director Edwin van der Sar said in a club statement.
“We all realise that it does not end the suffering of Abdelhak and his loved ones. It remains a very sad situation, that is how we feel here at Ajax, too.”
The player’s father, Mohammed Nouri, announced that he will set up a foundation in his son’s honour and said it was “good” that the case was “a thing of the past and that we can look forward together”.
