US soccer journalist, Grant Wahl, has died early Saturday while covering the 2022 World Cup quarter-final match between Argentina and the Netherlands.
The 49-year-old is said to have collapsed in the press box at Lusail Iconic Stadium during extra time.
Emergency services workers responded very quickly but fellow reporters were later informed Wahl had died.
Wahl wrote on his website on Monday that he had visited a medical clinic in Qatar.
“I didn’t have Covid (I test regularly here), but I went into the medical clinic at the main media centre today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I’m already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno,” he said.
Wahl drew international attention during the World Cup, after saying he was briefly stopped from attending the US match against Wales on November 21 for wearing a rainbow-coloured T-shirt in support of those who identify as LGBTQIA+, as their rights are criminalized in Qatar, a conservative Muslim nation.
He was detained briefly at the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan before he was released by a security commander. Wahl said FIFA apologized to him.
