Glenn Hoddle reveals which dramatic England game kickstarted his heart problems – and claims his ‘traumatic’ cardiac arrest in 2018 ‘stemmed’ from that match

Glenn Hoddle believes he has pinpointed the moment his heart problems began, revealing that a dramatic England match could have led to his ‘traumatic’ cardiac arrest in 2018.

Six years ago, Hoddle — who was the Three Lions’ manager between 1996 and 1999 — suffered a major heart attack while on set with BT Sport on his 61st birthday. 

Thanks to the quick thinking of an employee at the television studio, Hoddle’s life was saved and the 67-year-old has continued to act as a pundit for broadcasters including ITV and TNT Sports.

Hoddle believes the dramatic end to England’s World Cup qualifying campaign in 1997 led to his heart problems.

His Three Lions side, who needed a draw to qualify for France 1998 heading into their last game against Italy, nearly missed out on the tournament when Azzurri forward Christian Vieri almost scored in the final moments.

Fortunately for England, Vieri missed the target and Hoddle’s troops sealed qualification with a 0-0 stalemate.

Ex-England manager Hoddle, pictured after the Three Lions qualified for the World Cup with a 0-0 draw against Italy in 1997, suffered a heart scare during the final moments of the game

Christian Vieri (left, chasing down Gareth Southgate) missed a huge chance in the final stages

Speaking about the moment on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Hoddle said: ‘That game was an incredible moment – Wrighty (Ian Wright) going up that end and hitting the post, then it comes out to Teddy (Sheringham) on the edge of the box, we’re thinking he’s going smack it in and then he cuts back and chops it back.

‘Anyway, I’ll never forget it, I’m on the bench and they (Italy) go down the other end, the cross goes in to the big centre forward Vieri. Now, I couldn’t see it was going wide and David Seaman just stopped, he just stood there. 

‘This is where the serious bit comes in. This ball, I think it’s nestling in the top corner, it flies by the net and goes out, and I’ve got to be honest, my heart… you know how they say your heart jumps out your body, mine literally did. 

‘Boom. I came out in the biggest sweat ever. You look at my tracksuit, I’m drenched. My hair is soaking. And to this day, that was the moment I think I had a heart problem. And I didn’t know anything about it.

‘They found out I had AF (atrial fibrillation) and I think it all stemmed from that moment.’

Gary Neville, who appeared on the podcast alongside fellow England legends Paul Scholes and Wright, joked that the former Arsenal striker’s miss was ‘attempted murder’, given it led to Hoddle’s heart scare.

Wright, laughing, urged that it was ‘not my fault’ and instead jokingly blamed Sheringham for his part in it. 

Opening up on his cardiac arrest in 2018, Hoddle went on to say: ‘What a gift that Simon Daniels (the BT Sport employee) gave me. He’s given me life! 

Hoddle says his heart ‘literally jumped out of his body’ when he thought Vieri had scored

The 67-year-old opened up on the incident on Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet

‘He was a sound engineer. I wasn’t meant to go because he could have gone and took a phone call – he didn’t – he went back into the studio and saw all the commotion.

‘He was a volunteer policeman, so he knew how to do CPR. When I met him after I had the operations and everything, he hadn’t done it [CPR] for a long time and had a refresher course a week [before it happened]. He went straight in and did it.

‘It took over 20 minutes. I can’t remember a thing but because I hit my head so hard, they took me to St Thomas’ [Hospital] to have a scan on my head. They thought my head might have been the problem and they found there was nothing in there – so they took me to St Bartholomew’s.

‘It was horrendous for them [my family] – they had all the trauma in many ways. I had a check-up recently and every now and again I have to have a check-up. 

‘I have a defibrillator in my body – that was funny because I said to the fella, “I didn’t really want it”. 

‘I did it for my children and the family. My first question was, “I love my golf, where would you suggest I put it!’”