21 June 2012 Last updated at 04:36 ET

Bolton Wanderers' Fabrice Muamba to get honorary degree

The player collapsed during the game's first half

Bolton Wanderers footballer Fabrice Muamba, who had a cardiac arrest during a match, is to receive an honorary degree from the town's university.

The midfielder, whose heart stopped for 78 minutes after he collapsed during an FA Cup tie in March, will be honoured by the University of Bolton.

He will be awarded the doctorate to celebrate the medical staff who saved his life, the university said.

The 23-year-old said he was humbled to be chosen for the award.

"Fabrice is an exceptional young man in his own right but he will receive his honorary doctorate to celebrate and recognise the work of the teams who rushed to his aid," said the university's vice chancellor Prof George Holmes.

The player said: "I am very humbled to accept it on behalf of all the amazing men and women who combined to save my life, the paramedics and medical teams of Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham, ambulance personnel, and of course the consultants, doctors and nurses at the London Chest hospital.

"My family and I owe them all so much."

Fabrice Muamba said he was humbled by the award

Muamba, whose family fled to the UK from the Democratic Republic of Congo when he was aged 11, collapsed in the first half of his club's FA Cup quarter final against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

He is among 11 people being honoured by the university at a ceremony in July.

Others include Salford-born actor and playwright Ayub Khan-Din, who starred in the movie My Beautiful Launderette and wrote the film East Is East, and former University of Manchester lecturer Ann Johnson who has been diagnosed with young onset dementia and is at the forefront of campaigns to raise awareness of the condition.