Aneurysm killed US football journalist Grant Wahl, says wife

The wife of US football journalist Grant Wahl on Wednesday said a coroner's report revealed that her husband had died of a heart aneurysm while covering the football World Cup in Qatar.

Wahl, who was briefly detained last month when he tried to enter a World Cup stadium wearing a rainbow shirt, died while reporting on Argentina's quarterfinal clash with the Netherlands last week. 

The 48-year-old veteran reporter had been outspoken in his opposition to Qatar hosting the World Cup.

What the autopsy report said

"Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium," his widow Celine Gounder, herself a physician, wrote in a statement on her husband's website.

An aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge in the aorta, the large artery that carries most blood pumped from the heart to the rest of the body. Hemopericardium refers to the accumulation of blood around the heart wall.

"The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms," said Gounder. "No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him. His death was unrelated to COVID. His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing nefarious about his death.''

The examination was carried out New York City Medical Examiner's Office.

Sudden death raises questions

Wahl died during extra time of the Argentina-Netherlands game, falling back in his seat in the press box of the Lusail Stadium after appearing to suffer acute distress.

Reporters alongside him called for assistance and paramedics tried to revive him at the stadium before he was taken to a local hospital and confirmed dead.

The journalist's brother Eric Wahl said he suspected foul play after Grant Wahl had been denied entry to the United States' first game in Qatar against Wales in late November.

Wahl, who was detained for 25 minutes before being allowed into the stadium, had been wearing a rainbow T-shirt to represent support for the LGBTQ community. Gay and lesbian sex are criminalized in the conservative Muslim emirate. Wahl's brother said the football writer had told him about receiving death threats afterward.

Wahl had written earlier in the tournament about discomfort in his chest and said he had sought advice from doctors in Qatar. He said he had tested negative for COVID-19 and doctors suspected he had bronchitis and had given him antibiotics and strong cough syrup.

Leading light in US soccer coverage

Wahl, who wrote for Sports Illustrated magazine for more than two decades and then started his own website, was reporting on his eighth World Cup.

He was a major figure in popularizing soccer in the US as interest increased interest after the country hosted the 1994 World Cup.

Wahl also put football's international organizational bodies under the microscope over corruption and attempted to run for FIFA president against Sepp Blatter and Mohamed bin Hammam in 2011.

He had promised greater transparency for the organization and said he contacted 150 countries without winning a single nomination.

rc/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)