UPDATE, Dec. 14 via Deadline: Dr. Céline Gounder, the wife of the late soccer journalist Grant Wahl, said that an autopsy revealed he died of an aortic aneurysm.
In an interview on CBS Mornings, Gounder said, “He had an autopsy done here in New York by the New York City medical examiner’s office, and it showed that he had an aortic aneurysm that ruptured.” Gounder is a CBS News contributor.
Wahl died on Friday while covering the World Cup in Qatar, when he collapsed in the press room shortly before the end of the Netherlands-Argentina match.
Gounder also said that the did not think there was any chance of foul play involved in Wahl’s death, but that it was a heart condition that went undetected.
Dec. 9: Grant Wahl, a celebrated sports journalist and soccer analyst for CBS Sports, died early Saturday morning while covering the World Cup in Qatar. He was 48.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Wahl collapsed in the media tribune during the World Cup Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal game and was treated by paramedics for 30 minutes before he was taken to the hospital. He was pronounced dead on Saturday morning. The cause of death is unknown.
In a Substack post on Monday, Wahl wrote that he had been feeling sick and visited a hospital in Qatar, where they said he likely had bronchitis. “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. “I didn’t have Covid (I test regularly here), but 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.”
The U.S. Soccer Federation confirmed Wahl’s death in a statement posted to social media, writing: “The entire U.S. Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl. 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, and its major protagonists: teams, players, coaches and the many personalities that make soccer unlike any sport.”
Wahl’s wife, Céline Gounder, quote tweeted U.S. Soccer’s post, saying that she is “so thankful for the support of my husband @GrantWahl‘s soccer family & of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight. I’m in complete shock.”
This year’s competition marked Wahl’s eighth time covering the World Cup. Born in Mission, Kansas, Wahl graduated from Princeton University in 1996. He worked as a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, covering Major League Soccer and the U.S. National Team, as well as a correspondent for Fox Sports. In 2007, he published a bestselling book on David Beckham titled “The Beckham Experiment,” followed by 2018’s “Masters of Modern Soccer: How the World’s Best Play the Twenty-First-Century Game.” Most recently, Wahl was a soccer analyst for CBS Sports and an editorial consultant for Paramount+’s soccer documentaries.
(This story has been updated in the final paragraph with details of Wahl’s life and career.)
