US journalist who wore rainbow T-shirt to FIFA World Cup match dies under mysterious circumstances

New Delhi, Dec 10: US journalist, Grant Wahl died under mysterious circumstances just days after he was detained by security personnel for wearing a rainbow coloured T-shirt during a match between the United States and Wales in Qatar. Prior to his death the journalist was covering the quarter final match between Argentina and Netherlands at the Lusail Iconic Stadium. He collapsed during extra time and could not be revived, reports said.

His last tweet at 2.35 am on Saturday read, 'just an incredible designed set-piece goal by Netherlands. Wahl had covered 8 football world cups till date.

In a newsletter, Wahl had informed his subscribers about his deteriorating health. "My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you," he had said.

"What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort," Wahl also said.

I didn't have Covid (I test regularly here), but I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I'm already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno," he had further said.

Death threats:

Eric Wahl, the brother of the soccer journalist had said in an Instagram post that his brother got threats to his life. I am gay and I am the reason he wore the rainbow shirt to the World Cup, he said.

"My brother was healthy. He told me that he received death threats." He further emphasised, "I do not believe that my brother just died. I believe he was killed. And I just beg for any help." Eric said.

After the video on Instagram (@eewahl) went viral, the deceased journalist's brother turned the public account to private.

In his last sub stack newsletter on Friday, December 9, Grant Wahl had criticised the Qatari World Cup organisers for their lack of empathy towards the migrant workers. He wrote, "they just don't care. Qatari World Cup organizers don't even hide their apathy over migrant worker deaths, including the most recent one."

He had criticised Naseer Al-Khater, the CEO of the Qatari Supreme Court for downplaying the death of a Filipino migrant worker. Naseer had told the BBC, ' we are in the middle of a World Cup, and we have a successful World Cup. And this is something that you want to talk about right now?"

Detention of Wahl:

On November 21, Grant Wah was detained by the security personnel for wearing a rainbow-coloured T-shirt to the Ahmad bin Ali stadium during a match between Wales and the United States.

He had worn the T-shirt to express solidarity with the LGBTQ+community. Wahl was stopped and asked to remove the T-shirt. When he tried tweeting about the incident, his phone was confiscated.

Wahl was detained for about 25 minutes during which he was told that the rainbow coloured T-shirt was political in nature. During his detention, the security personnel also asked if he was from the United Kingdom.

"One of the security guards told me they were just trying to protect me from fans inside who could harm me for wearing the shirt ... A Fifa representative later apologized to me as well," Wahl wrote.

"But the entire episode left me wondering: What's it like for ordinary Qataris who might wear a rainbow shirt when the world isn't watching here? What's that like?"