As the United States prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, friends and family of the late soccer journalist Grant Wahl are reflecting on his enduring legacy and how he might have covered the tournament.
Wahl, who died suddenly at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was a preeminent voice in American soccer journalism. His contributions extended beyond match reporting to exploring the intersection of sports, human rights, and global politics.
This summer, the American Outlaws, a U.S. soccer fan group, honored Wahl by carrying a picture of him during their pregame march to World Cup stadiums. His family continues his advocacy work, with his brother Eric partnering with the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health. Eric discovered he carries the same genetic mutation that predisposed Grant to aortic ruptures, leading them to champion early detection and family screening.
"It would have been important to Grant to know that we wanted to take as much of our pain as possible and try to put it toward some kind of positive action," Eric Wahl stated, reflecting on their efforts.
Wahl's forward-thinking perspectives are also being recognized. His former colleague, sports journalist Laken Gounder, muses whether Wahl would have revisited his 15-year-old bid for FIFA president, noting how his platform of radical transparency seems particularly relevant today.
The Library of Congress has reached out to Gounder and is in the process of acquiring Wahl's papers for its national collections. "Though his career was cut short, we want to preserve Mr. Wahl’s contributions to the intersection of writing, sports, and human rights as part of our national collections that document the full scope of American history and culture," Sherri Seau, a historian at the Library of Congress, wrote in an email. Wahl's work will join the archives of figures like Jackie Robinson and Katharine Graham.