A US sports activities reporter has died after collapsing all of sudden on the World Cup.
Grant Wahl, 48, fell to the bottom as overtime started within the Argentina-Netherlands sport on Friday evening.
Qatar’s World Cup organizers stated on Saturday that Wahl “fell ill” within the press house, the place he gained “immediate medical treatment on site.”
Early experiences recommend he could have had a center assault, however this has but to be formally showed.
The cases round his dying aren’t transparent.
Wahl was once in short detained through government in Qatar for dressed in a rainbow blouse, in unity with the LGBT group previous within the month.
Tributes have poured in for the veteran sports activities correspondent.
US Soccer stated it was once “heartbroken to learn” of Wahl’s dying.
It praised Wahl’s “belief in the power of the game to advance human rights,” providing condolences to his spouse Celine Gounder and their family members.
Gounder answered to america Soccer observation on Twitter, announcing she was once “in complete shock”.
Qatar’s World Cup organisers, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), paid tribute to Wahl’s “enormous love of football” and presented condolences to his circle of relatives, buddies and media colleagues.
Wahl, a former creator for Sports Illustrated who moved to the Substack on-line publishing platform, were tweeting concerning the Netherlands-Argentina fit previous on Friday.
His agent, Tim Scanlan, advised newshounds that Wahl had “appeared to suffer some kind of acute distress in the start of extra time” on the quarter-final fit.
Scanlan stated makes an attempt had been made to restore Wahl within the press field earlier than he was once taken to an area health center, the place he was once showed lifeless.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated the dep. was once in “close communication” with Wahl’s circle of relatives.
World Cup organisers additionally stated they had been involved with america embassy “to ensure the process of repatriating the body is in accordance with the family’s wishes.”
Wahl had lined soccer for greater than 20 years, together with 11 World Cups, and authored a number of books at the game, in step with his web site.
He had simply celebrated his birthday previous this week.
