American football journalist Grant Wahl dies at age 49 in Qatar!

Grant Wahl was one of the best-known football writers in the United States. He died early Saturday morning while covering the World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands. He was 49.

American reporters sitting next to him in the press box at Lusail Iconic Stadium said Wahl fell backward in his chair during overtime, and reporters next to him called for help. Reporters said emergency workers arrived very quickly and they were later told that Wahl had died.

Wahl was at the World Cup for the eighth time. On Monday, he wrote on his website that he went to a medical clinic during his stay in Qatar.

“My body eventually gave up. Three weeks of little sleep, a lot of stress and a lot of work can do that to you,” Wahl wrote. “What had been cold for the past 10 days turned into something worse on the night of the US-Netherlands game, and I felt a new level of pressure and discomfort in my upper chest.

“I didn’t have Covid (I routinely test here) but I went to the major media center medical clinic today and they diagnosed bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics and some strong cough syrup; I’m starting to feel better a few hours later, but it’s still not good.”

Wahl said on his podcast Thursday that he had bronchitis and went back to the doctor.

“I canceled pretty much everything I was supposed to do on Thursday, slept in and now I’m a little better, but you can probably tell from my voice that I’m not 100%,” he said. I won’t cough while this podcast plays. I have to cough a lot. Everyone coughs here, and it’s not just me. So many journalists have a crazy cough, and everyone here is coughing. It sometimes sounds like a death rattle.

We just see a lot of common illnesses, coughs and colds, and I can’t wait to be on the other side of what I have. But I’m ready to go because I’ll be there on Friday. The only thing that surprises me is there isn’t that much COVID here.

During the World Cup, Wahl drew attention from around the world when he said he was briefly stopped from going to the US vs Wales game on November 21 because he wore a rainbow-colored T-shirt to show support for LGBTQIA+. In Qatar, a conservative Muslim country, LGBTQIA+ rights are against the law.

Wahl wrote that a security commander detained him for 25 minutes at Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan. Then he was released. Wahl said FIFA told him he was sorry.

Wahl graduated from Princeton in 1996. From 1996 to 2021, he worked for Sports Illustrated, where he was best known for writing about football and college basketball. Then he set up his own website. From 2012 to 2019, Wahl also worked for Fox Sports.

Dr. Celine Gounder, his wife, and a medical expert who contributed to CBS News’ coverage of healthcare issues, is a clinical associate professor at NYU School of Medicine, an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital Center, and the sole heir to his estate .

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Gounder tweeted Friday night that she was “completely shocked” and thanked everyone for supporting her husband.

U.S Ned pricea State Department spokesperson said in a tweet that the US is “working with senior Qatari officials to ensure his family’s wishes are granted as soon as possible.”

The co-editors-in-chief of Sports illustrated, Ryan Hunt and Stephen Canellasaid in a statement that they were “shocked and devastated” by the news of Grant’s death.

“We were proud to work with him and have called him a friend for 20 years. No writer in SI history cared more about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” the statement said. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Celine and his family and to all who have enjoyed his writing; he will always be remembered as a member of the SI family.

US Soccer also said they were “heartbroken” to hear about Wahl’s death in a statement Friday night.

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American football statement on Grant Wahl’s death: pic.twitter.com/CBp1mCK1mQ

— american football (@ussoccer) December 10, 2022

Wahl wrote that he was one of 82 journalists honored by FIFA and the international sports press association AIPS for attending eight or more World Cups.