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Grant Wahl, an esteemed American sports journalist best known for his soccer reporting with a focus on storytelling and behind-the-scenes coverage of the rise of the sport in the United States, died at the age of 49 early Saturday in Qatar. Wahl collapsed while in the press box of Lusail Stadium during the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal match, CBS News reports.
Wahl was an analyst on CBS Sports HQ throughout the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and wrote guest columns on CBS Sports that focused on the United States men’s national team. He was also an editorial consultant for soccer documentaries on Paramount+.
Wahl, who was covering his eighth World Cup, wrote on his personal Substack about a recent medical incident he experienced in Qatar.
“My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you. What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort,” Wahl wrote on Dec. 5.
“I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I’m already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.”
Wahl’s agent, Tim Scanlan, told CBS News that Wahl “appeared to have suffered some sort of acute distress in the press room” when the two teams began playing in extra time. Paramedics were called to the scene and brought him to “a nearby hospital.”
Born in Mission, Kansas, Wahl graduated from Princeton University in 1996. While at Princeton, he covered the Tigers men’s soccer team coached by Bob Bradley, who would go on to coach the United States men’s soccer team a decade later.
Wahl fortified his place in the sports industry as one of the most renowned soccer reporters in the United States…
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