An American football reporter died in Doha on Friday while covering a FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match, according to his wife and the US Soccer federation.
Grant Wahl, 48, helped build soccer's popularity in the United States through decades of vivid reporting at Sports Illustrated, then with CBS Sports.
According to NPR, Wahl collapsed in the press tribune during extra time of the Argentina-Netherlands match. 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," U.S. Soccer said in a statement.
It said the "entire U.S. Soccer family is heartbroken."
Wahl's wife Celine Gounder, a renowned epidemiologist and expert on infectious diseases, tweeted: "I'm in complete shock."
Wahl said on his subscription newsletter earlier this week that he'd gone to a clinic at the media center in Qatar, "and they said I probably have bronchitis."
"My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you... I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort," he wrote.
With some antibiotics and "some heavy duty cough syrup" Wahl said he was "feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno."
Wahl in 1996 joined Sports Illustrated, at the time the premier U.S. sports publication, to report on soccer. He remained at the magazine until 2020, joining CBS Sports a year later.
He also had launched a subscription email newsletter platform, and was posting to that during the World Cup.