Grant Wahl: World Cup journalist died due to aortic aneurysm, wife says

The renowned US football journalist was covering his eighth World Cup when he collapsed during the quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands

Grant Wahl, the renowned US football journalist who passed away while covering the World Cup in Qatar, died due to an aortic aneurysm that ruptured, his wife has said.

In an interview with CBS, Dr Celine Gounder said she wanted to “make sure the conspiracy theories were put to rest” after speculation about her late husband’s death spread online.

Wahl died at the age of 49 after collapsing in the press box while reporting on the World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands on Friday. He received medical treatment at the Lusail Stadium but paramedics were unable to revive him.

The American, who was covering his eighth World Cup, had made headlines earlier in the tournament when he said he was refused entry into a match for wearing a rainbow T-shirt in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Wahl had also been critical of Qatar’s human rights record and treatment of migrant workers in his reporting at the tournament.

Wahl’s body was flown back to the United States on Monday and Dr Gounder said an autopsy was carried out to determine the cause of death. It revealed that Wahl died of a burst blood vessel carrying oxygenated blood from the heart.

“He had an autopsy done here in New York by the New York City medical examiner’s office, and it showed that he had an aortic aneurysm that ruptured,” Dr Gounder told CBS on Wednesday.

She also wrote a post on Wahl’s Substack blog, in which she said there was “nothing nefarious about his death”, adding: “I wanted to make sure the conspiracy theories about his death were put to rest.”

Wahl had also written about his health struggles while in Qatar and said he visited a hospital when he experienced “pressure and discomfort” in his upper chest.

His wife said the chest pressure Wahl experienced before his death might have represented the initial symptoms of the aortic aneurysm.

“No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him,” Dr Gounder said. “His death was unrelated to Covid. His death was unrelated to vaccination status.”

She said she felt “relief” in knowing Wahl’s cause of death.