Soccer writer Grant Wahl, who died at World Cup, suffered aneurysm

(NEW YORK) — American soccer writer Grant Wahl died of an undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium while attending the Netherlands-Argentina match last week, according to his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder.

Gounder said an autopsy had been performed by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.

“Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium,” she wrote in a post on her Substack. “The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms. 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.”

Wahl, a well-known and loved journalist in the U.S. soccer community, collapsed in the media room during the match on Dec. 9 and could not be revived.

The 49-year-old said on his podcast, “Fútbol with Grant Wahl,” that he had bronchitis and went to the medical clinic twice two days before he collapsed. He had said on the podcast that he wasn’t back to “100%,” but was feeling better.