FIFA Fair Play honour awarded to Luka Lochoshvili for saving opponent's life
Georg Teigl was about to choke on his own tongue when Lochoshvili sprung into action and saved his life.
Luka Lochoshvili has won the FIFA Fair Play award for helping save the life of Austria Wien star, Georg Teigl.
In shocking scenes, Teigl collapsed on the pitch following a collision and swallowed his tongue.
But thanks to the quick-thinking actions of Lochoshvili, he ultimately lived.
Now Georgian has been honoured in the best way possible with a prestigious FIFA award.
Lochoshvili, who recently joined Serie A side Cremonese, was plying his trade for Austrian outfit Wolfsberger AC at the time of scary incident.
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During the league match between Wolfsberger AC and Austria Vienna, Teigl lost consciousness after a nasty collision.
Clearly in a bad way, he lay on the turf motionless and required medical attention quickly.
To make matters worse, he appeared to swallow his tongue and was choking on it.
Thankfully, Lochoshvili saw what was happening and sprung into action, sprinting over to help the opposition player.
While other players frantically waved over medical staff, Lochoshvili took matters into his own hands and attended to Teigl on the scene.
Shoving his own hand into Teigl's mouth, Lochoshvili desperately attempted to retrieve the player's tongue from the back of his throat.
Incredibly, after a back-and-forth battle, he managed to stop him from choking which ultimately saved Teigl's life.
Once the Austria Wien star was stable and in the safe hands of medical staff, players from both teams swarmed around Lochoshvili to praise him for his bravery.
“Fortunately, I just knew what to do,” Lochoshvili said at the time.
“Everyone would have reacted like that in this situation. I think I caught his tongue at the last second.”
Now Lochoshvili has been recognised for his incredible actions by being awarded the FIFA Fair Play honour at The Best ceremony.
He was unable to receive the award in person because Cremonese were hosting Roma in Serie A the day after, although he was met with one of the biggest round of applauses on the night.
What a hero.
Max Sherry