Longtime soccer sportswriter Grant Wahl died on Friday while covering the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal at the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar.
He “collapsed” while covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match, a witness told The Dallas Observer.
As the match was winding down, correspondent Tom Goldman witnessed a commotion in the press tribune at Lusail Stadium. Reporters scattered as Wahl collapsed. Paramedics responded to the seating area where he was and performed CPR. After many minutes, they took him away on a stretcher while using an automatic chest compressor to continue applying CPR.
Qatar’s World Cup organizers said on Saturday that Wahl “fell ill” in the press area, where he received “immediate medical treatment on site.” He was then transferred to Hamad General Hospital, said a spokesperson for the Supreme Court Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the body responsible for planning the tournament.
The circumstances around his death are not clear.
“The entire US Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” US Soccer said in a statement on its official Twitter account.
“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us.”
US Soccer praised Wahl’s passion and “belief in the power of the game to advance human rights,” and shared its condolences with Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, and his loved ones.
Gounder also posted the US Soccer statement on Twitter.
“I am so thankful for the support of my husband Grant Wahl’s soccer family and of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight. I’m in complete shock,” wrote Gounder, a former CNN contributor who served on the Biden-Harris transition Covid-19 advisory board.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the department was in “close communication” with Wahl’s family. The World Cup organizers also said they were in touch with the US embassy “to ensure the process of repatriating the body is in accordance with the family’s wishes.”
Wahl had covered soccer for more than two decades, including 11 World Cups, and authored several books on the sport, according to his website.
He had just celebrated his birthday earlier this week with “a great group of media friends at the World Cup,” according to a post on his official Twitter account, which added: “Very thankful for everyone.”
Wahl’s wife and brother both confirmed his death. He was 48.
Wahl was prevented from entering one World Cup stadium in Qatar in November because he was wearing a rainbow t-shirt.
Wahl said a stadium security guard turned him away, “You have to change your shirt. It’s not allowed.” Wahl said he’d been briefly detained. Qatar has been a controversial host since it was awarded the tournament in 2010.
Its human rights record has been heavily criticized. And, since the tournament began last month, the Persian Gulf country’s rules prohibiting same-sex relations have been front and center. It’s illegal in Qatar and punishable by jailtime. When several European team captains said they would wear special rainbow armbands, FIFA clamped down and threatened the players with yellow cards.
Tributes pour in
Wahl’s death has sent shockwaves through the soccer and sports journalism community, with many sharing tributes on social media.
“Only some days ago, Grant was recognized by FIFA and AIPS (the International Sports Press Association) for his contribution to reporting on eight consecutive FIFA World Cups,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement.
The co-editors in chief of Sports Illustrated, the publication where Wahl spent the majority of his career, said in a joint statement they were “shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing.”
“We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades – no writer in the history of (Sports Illustrated) has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” said the statement.
It added that Wahl had first joined the publication in November 1996. He had volunteered to cover the sport as a junior reporter – back before it reached the heights of global popularity it now enjoys – eventually becoming “one of the most respected soccer authorities in the world,” it said.
The statement said that Wahl also worked with other media outlets including Fox Sports. After leaving Sports Illustrated in 2020, he began publishing his podcast and newsletter.
On Friday in Philadelphia, basketball star LeBron James said he had been “very fond of Grant.” While Wahl was at Sports Illustrated, he did a cover story on James when James was in high school.
“I’ve always kind of watched from a distance even when I moved up in ranks and became a professional, and he went to a different sport,” said James, speaking at a postgame press conference. “Any time his name would come up I’ll always think back to me as a teenager and having Grant in our building … It’s a tragic loss.”
Other current and former US soccer players, including Ali Krieger and Tony Meola, shared their condolences, as did sporting bodies such as Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.
Wittyngham, Wahl’s podcast co-host, told CNN on Saturday the news of his death had been hard to fathom.
“For Americans, Grant Wahl is the first person you read covering soccer. He was kind of the only person for a while … Grant was the first person who really paid genuine attention to this sport in a meaningful way,” Wittyngham said.
Several journalists shared stories of reporting alongside Wahl, and having encountered him at multiple World Cups over the years.
“Before he became the best covering soccer he did hoops and was so kind to me,” wrote famed broadcaster Dick Vitale.
Timmy T. Davis, the US Ambassador to Qatar, tweeted that Wahl was “a well known and greatly respected reporter who focused on the beautiful game.”
