Indian American medico’s journalist husband Grant Wahl dies at Qatar World Cup

Céline Gounder’s husband collapsed while covering the World Cup

A leading Indian American infectious diseases and global health expert, Céline Gounder’s journalist husband Grant Wahl has died after collapsing while covering the World Cup at Qatar.

Wahl “fell ill” and “collapsed” in the press area while covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match, CNN reported Saturday citing Qatar’s World Cup organizers.

He received “immediate medical treatment on site” and was then transferred to Hamad General Hospital, said a spokesperson for the Supreme Court Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the body responsible for planning the tournament.

He was treated in the stadium “for about 20-25 minutes” before he was moved to the hospital, Keir Radnedge, a columnist at World Soccer Magazine, told CNN.

A shocked Gounder, who was a member of the Covid-19 Advisory Board transition team of then-incoming US president Joe Biden has thanked people for the outpouring of support. “I am so thankful for the support of my husband @GrantWahl’s soccer family & of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight,” she tweeted.

Read: FIFA 2022 in Qatar amid rampant global uprisings (November 20, 2022)

“I’m in complete shock,” added the daughter of a French mother from Normandy and a Tamil-Indian father from a small village near Erode in Tamil Nadu.

“The entire US Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” US Soccer said in a statement on its official Twitter account.

“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us.”

US Soccer praised Wahl’s passion and “belief in the power of the game to advance human rights,” and shared its condolences with Gounder, and his loved ones.

Gounder, a former CNN contributor also posted the US Soccer statement on Twitter.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the department was in “close communication” with Wahl’s family.

The World Cup organizers also said they were in touch with the US embassy “to ensure the process of repatriating the body is in accordance with the family’s wishes.”

Wahl’s death has sent shockwaves through the soccer and sports journalism community, with many sharing tributes on social media, CNN said.

“Only some days ago, Grant was recognized by FIFA and AIPS (the International Sports Press Association) for his contribution to reporting on eight consecutive FIFA World Cups,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement.

The co-editors in chief of Sports Illustrated, the publication where Wahl spent the majority of his career, said in a joint statement they were “shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing.”

We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades – no writer in the history of (Sports Illustrated) has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” said the statement.

It added that Wahl had first joined the publication in November 1996. He had volunteered to cover the sport as a junior reporter – back before it reached the heights of global popularity it now enjoys – eventually becoming “one of the most respected soccer authorities in the world,” it said.

The statement said that Wahl also worked with other media outlets including Fox Sports. After leaving Sports Illustrated in 2020, he began publishing his podcast and newsletter.