Soccer Journalist Grant Wahl Last Video Before Death

Grant Wahl, a highly regarded soccer journalist who wrote extensively on the game, died Friday in Qatar, where he was covering the World Cup quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands.
Wahl’s agent, Tim Scanlan, confirmed the death in a phone interview on Friday night. Scanlan said that Wahl had been in the press box in the closing minutes of the match when he went into acute distress.
He is believed to have died, Scanlan said, at a hospital in Qatar or while he was being taken to one, after feeling unwell as the tournament proceeded.
“He wasn’t sleeping well, and I asked him if he tried melatonin or anything like,” Scanlan said. “He said, ‘I just need to like relax for a bit.’”
According to two New York Times journalists who were present, medical personnel performed chest compressions and other treatment for about 20 minutes before Wahl was taken out of Lusail Iconic Stadium.
Wahl was in the midst of his eighth men’s World Cup, with an aggressive schedule of reporting stories and recording podcasts.
Wahl’s wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, also confirmed the death in a post on Twitter. A family friend said that Gounder asked for privacy, and would leave all public comment to the U.S. Embassy in Qatar and the United States Soccer Federation.
Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, said U.S. officials were in contact with Wahl’s family and were “engaged with senior Qatari officials to see to it that his family’s wishes are fulfilled as expeditiously as possible.”
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