In this 2014 picture, sportswriter Grant Wahl works as a sideline reporter throughout halftime.
Andy Mead | YCJ | Icon Sportswire |Corbis | Getty Images
Grant Wahl, a longtime soccer sportswriter, died Friday in Qatar whereas masking the World Cup.
NPR nationwide supervising editor Russell Lewis tweeted that Wahl was masking the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal match when he died.
Multiple news organizations reported Wahl collapsed within the press tribune and was tended to by paramedics.
U.S. Soccer stated in its assertion that the workforce was “heartbroken” over Wahl’s dying.
“Fans of soccer and journalism of the highest quality knew we could always count on Grant to deliver insightful and entertaining stories about our game,” the group stated.
The explanation for dying was not instantly accessible.
In a submit Dec. 5 on his private web site, Wahl stated he felt sick and that medical personnel on-site on the World Cup instructed him he in all probability had bronchitis. He stated he was given antibiotics.
“My body finally broke down on me,” he wrote. “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.”
His spouse, Dr. Céline Gounder, tweeted late Friday that the news got here as a “complete shock.”
“I am so thankful for the support of my husband @GrantWahl’s soccer family & of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight,” she stated.
Wahl was identified for his work for Sports Illustrated and as a commentator on NPR. He wrote a well-received e book about David Beckham’s foray into the U.S. soccer, titled “The Beckham Experiment.”
It was the primary New York Times Bestseller with soccer as the subject.
Sports Illustrated’s high editors stated late Friday that he began there in 1996 and left to pursue impartial tasks in 2020.
“We’re shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing,” SI’s co-editors in chief, Ryan Hunt and Stephen Cannella, stated. “We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades. No writer in the history of SI has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell.”
Wahl is from Mission, Kansas, and attended Princeton University as an undergraduate.
This is a growing story. Please verify again for updates.