According to his wife and the US Soccer Federation, a well-known US sports reporter who made headlines when he was detained at the Qatar World Cup for wearing a rainbow shirt died on Friday while covering the quarterfinals in Doha.
Grant Wahl, 48, helped build soccer’s popularity in the United States with decades of vivid reporting at Sports Illustrated, then at CBS Sports, where he was covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match at Lusail Stadium.
Wahl collapsed in the press tribune as the match was winding down, according to NPR.
Before being taken away on a stretcher, paramedics performed CPR at the scene.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Wahl succumbed to a heart attack.
Celine Gounder, Wahl’s wife and a renowned epidemiologist and expert on diseases such as Covid-19, tweeted, “I’m in complete shock.”
Wahl was detained by security on November 21 in Qatar after wearing a rainbow shirt to the opening match between the US and Wales teams, demonstrating support for LGBTQ rights in a country where same-sex relationships are illegal.
Wahl began reporting on soccer for Sports Illustrated, the premier US sports publication at the time, in 1996.
He worked for the magazine until 2020 before joining CBS Sports a year later.
The news of his death sparked an outpouring of emotion from the soccer community.
“Fans of soccer and high-quality journalism knew we could rely on Grant to deliver insightful and entertaining stories about our game and its major protagonists: teams, players, coaches, and the many personalities that distinguish soccer from other sports,” US Soccer said in a statement.
