Grant Wahl was 49 and recently said he had bronchitis on his podcast.
ByStephanie Guerilus
December 10, 2022, 11:20 AM
U.S. soccer journalist Grant Wahl has died at 49 in Qatar early Saturday while covering the World Cup, U.S. Soccer said in a statement.
"The entire U.S. soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl," U.S. Soccer said in a statement Friday. "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. Here in the United States, Grant's passion for soccer and commitment to elevating its profile across our sporting landscape played a major role in helping to drive interest in and respect for our beautiful game."
Sports reporter Grant Wahl covering the U.S. Men's National team in East Hartford, Conn., Oct. 10, 2014.
Fred Kfoury III/AP, FILE
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At the beginning of his "Fútbol with Grant Wahl" podcast Thursday, Wahl said he had bronchitis and had been to the medical clinic twice that day and cancelled everything to nap. He said he felt better but not 100%.
"I'm feeling better today. I basically canceled everything on this Thursday that I had, and napped and and I'm doing slightly better that you can probably tell in my voice that I'm not at it at 100% here. Hopefully I will not cough during this podcast. I'm coughing a lot," he said.
"Everyone's coughing here in like this is by no means limited to me like so many journalists have got a crazy cough. It sounds like a death rattle sometimes. The only thing that's surprising to me actually is there isn't that much COVID Here I thought there might be a real issue with that. We're not really seeing COVID cases. We're just seeing a lot of general sickness, coughing, colds, and I can't wait to be on the other side of what I have. But I am going to be ready to go I'm attending on Friday. The Argentina Netherlands quarterfinal, very excited for that. And then I'm going to go to France, England on Saturday," he added.
