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On Friday evening, the US soccer community was shocked by the death of Grant Wahl in Qatar, who was covering the World Cup in Qatar. Wahl was widely considered a prominent soccer journalist in the USA. The longtime Sports Illustrated writer had recently cut ties with the legacy publication, and his Substack had taken off.
He had been outspoken about issues around the Qatar World Cup, such as LGBTQ issues and the alleged deaths of those who helped build the stadium. So, people were concerned if Wahl had been harmed in some way, leading to the death of a healthy 49-year-old.
No real evidence of any wrongdoing has been found, and Wahl had reported feeling sick and visiting medics on his podcast and on his substack. But now, another journalist covering the tournament has died, and that has sparked the rumors again.
Another Journalist covering the World Cup in Qatar has died
News broke Sunday that another journalist covering the tournament had died.
A second journalist dies in Qatar whilst covering the #WorldCup. Photojournalist Khalid al-Misslam from Qatari news channel Al Kass TV passed away on Saturday; a day before that, US soccer journalist Grant Wahl, 48, collapsed at the match between Argentina and the Netherlands. pic.twitter.com/yy7tXdQl8B
— Monica Grayley (@MonicaGrayley) December 11, 2022
An article on Fox Sports says, in part:
A second journalist has died while covering the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The Gulf Times reports Qatari photojournalist Khalid al-Misslam passed away “suddenly” on the weekend.
The Qatar news outlet wrote: “Al- Misslam, a Qatari, died suddenly while covering the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. We believe in Allah’s mercy and forgiveness for him, and send our deepest condolences to his family.”
Al-Misslam worked for the Qatari news channel Al Kass TV and had been covering the World Cup. The circumstances around his death are unclear, with the TV channel only briefly mentioning his passing on their live broadcast.
Naturally, this has raised suspicion, as it’s two journalist deaths in three days in Qatar.
One might be a coincidence, two requires an investigation.
— JKxZ (@JKxZ) December 12, 2022
Let’s all hope these unfortunate deaths were not nefarious in any way.