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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The biggest event in global soccer has found its way to Kansas City, Missouri, the hometown of one of the biggest advocates for the sport in the United States.
The late soccer journalist Grant Wahl grew up in Mission, Kansas, a small suburb southwest of Kansas City. He would go on to become one of the highest regarded writers in any sport, spending 25 years at Sports Illustrated and elsewhere; his coverage is widely credited with growing the sport in the U.S.
Wahl moved to the East Coast as an adult, but kept close ties to Kansas City, including a love for the Chiefs.
In 2022, Wahl died at age 49 in Qatar while covering the World Cup for his own website.
“The World Cup is something I never in a million years imagined would happen here,” Eric Wahl, Grant’s older brother, tells Front Office Sports. “And it sucks tremendously that Grant is not here to comment on it, to enjoy it.”
Kansas City wasn’t yet the self-dubbed ”Soccer Capital of America” when the Wahl brothers were growing up. The city had a founding team in MLS, the Kansas City Wizards, in the mid-1990s. But that was after the future journalist had already gone to Princeton for a degree in political science.
During college, Wahl spent time in Argentina, covering soccer culture with Boca Juniors for three weeks in the summer of 1994. The trip cemented his career path, and he went back again for his senior thesis. Now the country Wahl loved has descended on his hometown.
On Tuesday night at Arrowhead Stadium, Lionel Messi scored his first-ever World Cup hat trick. He set a new record for World Cup appearances and tied the tournament’s all-time men’s scoring record.
“I’m absolutely heartbroken that he was not able to see that game,” Wahl’s friend and former colleague, The Guardian senior sports editor Alexander Abnos, tells FOS. “Truly nobody else in the world would’ve been better positioned to tell that story than him.” (Abnos is also from Kansas City.)
Wahl was well-known for facing the political and cultural elements of the game head-on. He reported on human rights abuses at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, traveling to speak with migrant workers ahead of the tournament. Ahead of one match, he was famously stopped by stadium officials for wearing an LGBTQ+ Pride shirt.
“I’m pretty sure that he too would’ve had really interesting criticisms of the whole ticket pricing model that FIFA is using,” Abnos says, “and for sure would’ve had really pointed things to say about the Trump administration’s treatment of basically everybody, but especially people that are coming into the country for this tournament, whether they’re fans, or support staff for teams, or whatever.”
Many have been paying tribute to Wahl at this World Cup. “He is not here to cover this, but I know he would want this story covered,” wrote Wahl’s wife, physician and public health expert Céline Gounder, regarding the Ebola outbreak in a World Cup nation, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fox held a moment remembering Wahl, who had been a correspondent for the network, ahead of the tournament’s opening match. “Grant’s work as a soccer journalist contributed immensely to the growth of the sport in the United States, and is a big reason for all the excitement this summer, and we miss him dearly,” said host Rebecca Lowe.
Wahl’s name is etched into Kansas City’s soccer history. The press box at the KC Current’s CPKC Stadium is named for Wahl. Sporting KC has a plaque for him on its Local Legends wall at Sporting Park.
It’s not hard for Eric Wahl to imagine the hometown stories his brother would’ve produced at what would’ve been his ninth men’s World Cup.
“In my mind’s eye, I have this perfect image of, somehow, Grant being able to interview Lionel Messi over barbecue, somewhere in Kansas City,” says Eric Wahl.
“I think he would write a couple of love letters to the city that he’s from.”
