American journalist Grant Wahl suffered a heart attack during extra time in Friday’s World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands and did not survive.
According to goal.com, rescuers provided the 48-year-old American journalist with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, that is, indirect heart massage and artificial pulmonary ventilation, at the Losail stadium, but all efforts to save his life were in vain.
“The entire American soccer family was heartbroken to learn that we lost Grant Wahl. Fans of soccer and high-quality journalism knew we could always count on Grant to provide entertaining and informative stories about our game and about its key players: the teams, players, coaches and the many personalities who make soccer different from any other sport,” the American Football Association said in a statement.
They also recalled the journalist’s fight for respect for human rights. At the start of the league, Wahl went to Al Raján Stadium wearing a rainbow T-shirt in support of the LGBTQ+ movement and was briefly detained.
“Equally important to his work was Grant’s belief in the power of the game to advance human rights. In doing so, he will remain an inspiration to all. Grant has made football his life’s work and we are devastated that neither he nor his brilliant writing will be with us,” the statement read. the soccer organization of the United States.
Wahl had eight men’s and women’s World Cups under his belt, and even ran for FIFA president in 2011. He was also known as a writer, he wrote the book “The Beckham Experiment” about the arrival of David Beckham in the American MLS in 2007.
