Grant Wahl was an American sports journalist and soccer analyst for CBS Sports, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and a correspondent for Fox Sports, based in New York City.
33 Facts About Grant Wahl
2.
Grant Wahl was the author of the book The Beckham Experiment.
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Grant Wahl's Sports Illustrated career mainly focused on college basketball and soccer in the United States.
4.
Grant Wahl left Sports Illustrated in 2020 and founded his own podcast and Substack newsletter.
5.
Grant Wahl died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm on December 10,2022, while in Lusail, Qatar as he was covering the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
6.
Grant Wahl was born on December 2,1973, in Mission, Kansas; he had one older brother, Eric.
7.
Grant Wahl was a fan of the Kansas City Comets, a local indoor soccer team.
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Grant Wahl graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School and was an Eagle Scout.
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Grant Wahl went on to study at Princeton University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Politics in 1996.
10.
Grant Wahl cited his experiences with Bradley as having been a catalyst for his love of the sport.
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In 1996, Grant Wahl began his career working with the Miami Herald as an intern and later declined an offer to become a staff writer there.
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Grant Wahl was one of three Sports Illustrated journalists to cover the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but was the lone writer to remain until the final match.
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Grant Wahl was promoted to the position of senior writer at Sports Illustrated in October 2000, where he mostly covered soccer for both the magazine and SI.
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Grant Wahl wrote over 50 cover stories for the magazine.
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Grant Wahl took a year-long break from the magazine to accompany his wife Celine Gounder during a research trip to South Africa in 2008.
16.
In October 2009, while covering the fourth round of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, Grant Wahl was robbed of his phone and wallet at gunpoint in broad daylight in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; earlier in the day, he had interviewed interim Honduran president Roberto Micheletti, who later apologized to Grant Wahl over the incident.
17.
In February 2011, Grant Wahl announced a possible bid to become President of FIFA in the upcoming election to unseat incumbent Sepp Blatter.
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Grant Wahl pulled out before the official deadline after failing to earn an endorsement from a football association.
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Grant Wahl joined FOX Sports in October 2012 after having participated in the network's coverage of the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament earlier that year.
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Grant Wahl published his second book, Masters of Modern Soccer, in 2018; it featured interviews with top players and evaluations of their playing styles.
21.
Grant Wahl went on to join CBS Sports on October 5,2021, where he became an analyst for its coverage of CONCACAF soccer matches, as well as an editorial consultant for soccer documentaries to air on Paramount+.
22.
Grant Wahl released a podcast series on the career of Freddy Adu in 2020 that was distributed by Blue Wire Media.
23.
Grant Wahl was detained for about 25 minutes outside a stadium over the rainbow patterned T-shirt he was wearing, while a reporter for The New York Times, who was with him, was detained briefly by Qatari officials.
24.
In 2001, Grant Wahl married his Princeton schoolmate Celine Gounder, a journalist and New York University medical doctor who specializes in infectious diseases and global health.
25.
Grant Wahl collapsed suddenly in his press box seat at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar while covering the quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands.
26.
Local paramedics responded quickly and treated him for 30 minutes, including CPR, before Grant Wahl was transported to Hamad General Hospital, according to a statement by his wife.
27.
Eric Grant Wahl said his brother had received death threats and that he believed Grant Wahl was killed.
28.
Grant Wahl stated that the family was in contact with US State Department and White House officials.
29.
Eric Grant Wahl later called for transparency, but retracted his claims of foul play; the US State Department stated that they saw "no indication of foul play or anything nefarious at this point".
30.
Grant Wahl had complained of chest discomfort and sought help at the medical clinic at the World Cup media center, where he was told that he probably had bronchitis.
31.
Grant Wahl was given cough syrup and antibiotics at the clinic.
32.
On January 25,2023, the National Soccer Hall of Fame announced that Grant Wahl would be posthumously awarded their Colin Jose Media Award, which honors media members who have made significant contributions to soccer in the United States.
33.
The fourth episode of Season 3 of the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso was dedicated to the memory of Grant Wahl, who was a fan of the show and fielded questions from its writers concerning a storyline in which journalist Trent Crimm writes a book about Zava's arrival at AFC Richmond, the team depicted in the series.