Grant Wahl, American journalist who died during the Argentina-Netherlands World Cup. He had entered the stadium with a rainbow shirt – Corriere.it

Grant Wahl he was easy to recognize in a mixed area, while waiting like everyone else for the passage of the American players: he was the one they stopped at, the best known for many years. Wahl died in Doha during Argentina-Holland from “acute stress, suffered at the beginning of overtime” as his agent explained. She was 48 years old. On Monday he wrote that he had been to the infirmary of the Doha media center to be examined: “I don’t have Covid (I take regular swabs), but they told me that I probably have bronchitis”.

Successful freelancer, reference signing for soccer made in the USA, Wahl was the journalist who launched the LeBron James phenomenon in 2002 on Sports Illustrated with the cover «The Chosen One» the chosen one. And here in Qatar he had become known for having tried to enter the Ahmed Bin Ali stadium before the USA-Wales with a rainbow on his shirt: «They wanted to make me take it off – he told us – but I refused. After forty minutes of negotiations, a Fifa employee let me in.”

Also for this link Grant’s brother wants to see clearly and asks for help from the American authorities: «He was in full health». Fifa released a note of condolences, recalling the recent award conferred together with the international association of journalists on Wahl for covering eight World Cups: “His love for football was immense”.