‘I was put in a coma after horror injury, when I woke up I didn’t remember I was a footballer’

AN international star “didn’t remember” he was a footballer – after waking from a coma following a sickening injury.

He also revealed he’s had to read and write again – yet has set a courageous timetable for a return to high-level action.

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Alberth Elis, 28, needed eight minutes of treatment on the pitch following an accidental clash of heads playing for Bordeaux against Guingcamp in the French second-tier back in February.

The 60-cap Honduras striker was then taken to hospital for emergency surgery before being placed in an induced coma.

He was unconscious for four days – and in the 10 days after that could recall little.

He told The Athletic: “I didn’t remember I was a footballer.

“I din’t remember that I was in France, I didn’t remember I was Honduran.”

Thankfully, after moving to a recovery clinic in Bordeaux, a teacher helped him progress “mentally”.

Elis spent all day in classes, with his parents beside him every step of the way.

And he explained how a supportive message from the opponent involved in the horrific collision nine months ago further encouraged him.

Elis believes Guingcamp centre-back Donatien Gomis “gave me a lot of strength to get back on my feet and play football again”.

Now the former Boavista frontman hopes to be back on the field competitively within two months.

At first he hoped to stay with Bordeaux – but their financial problems meant DOUBLE relegation last summer and forced them to turn amateur.

Instead Elis is training in a headguard with Honduran third-tier club Panteras.

Home-country giants Club Deportivo Olimpia, as well as the national team, have also invited him to train.

With doctors telling him he is “fine” after tests, Elis added: “I want to come back and show I’m 100 per cent… ideally in January.

“This blow changed my life, it changed the way I see life and the way I follow God. And as a footballer my dream is to play football again.”