Soccer Journalist who was detained for wearing a rainbow shirt at the World Cup, dies in Qatar

One of America’s leading soccer reporters, who made headlines when he was detained at the Qatar World Cup for wearing a rainbow shirt, has d#ed on Friday while covering the quarterfinals in Doha, according to his wife and the US Soccer federation.

According to NPR, Wahl, 48, collapsed in the press tribune as Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match was winding down. Paramedics performed CPR at the scene before taking him away on a stretcher. The Wall Street Journal said Wahl apparently suffered a heart attack.

“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 said in a statement. It said the “entire US Soccer family is heartbroken.” Wahl’s wife Celine Gounder, a renowned epidemiologist and expert on infectious diseases, tweeted: “I’m in complete shock.”