An American sports reporter, Grant Wahl who last month had a run-in with Qatar’s World Cup organisers over a rainbow LGBTQ shirt, is dead.
Wahl, 48, according to his family, died while covering a tense quarter-final match Friday.
The late journalist reportedly helped build soccer’s popularity in the United States through his vivid reporting for Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports and other media.
Wahl was said to have collapsed in the press tribune during Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands game. The Wall Street Journal said he suffered a suspected heart attack.
Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, a renowned epidemiologist, said on Twitter: “I’m in complete shock.”
A Qatar organising committee spokesperson said “he received immediate emergency medical treatment on site, which continued as he was transferred by ambulance to Hamad General Hospital.”
