master of modern sportswriting: the life and work of grant wahl

＂This collection of Grant’s work is a great testament to not only what he did when he was here, but what he’s still doing to impact others.＂--LeBron James

The definitive collection of beloved late journalist Grant Wahl’s work--a masterclass in the art of sportswriting

After Grant Wahl died of an aortic aneurysm at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, collapsing in his press seat during a quarterfinal match, tributes to Wahl poured in from around the globe. Wahl was beloved for good reason--he was kind, generous, and unflinching in the face of injustice. He was also one of the best sports journalists of his generation.

Spanning four decades of storytelling, World Class collects for the first time the finest writing of Grant Wahl, from op-eds for his college newspaper to twenty-five years of reporting at Sports Illustrated to his deeply personal work for Fútbol with Grant Wahl on Substack. Wahl was the multi-tool modern sportswriter: clear and direct; able to write long, short, or in between; cosmopolitan; socially aware.

Arranged thematically, World Class demonstrates how Wahl’s career aligned with the evolution of sportswriting. Included are explorations of soccer subcultures from Buenos Aires and F.C. Barcelona to the dusty sandlots of Nacogdoches, Texas, as well as accounts of trophy lifts that have a first-draft-of-history definitiveness. Some pieces capture prodigies early in their careers, like LeBron James and Landon Donovan; others lift the voices of the women athletes to whom Wahl paid early attention--stars like Abby Wambach and Megan Rapinoe. The book showcases the daring and important positions Wahl took in Qatar in the weeks before he died, supporting migrant workers and LGBTQ+ people.

More than a collection of Grant Wahl’s best work, World Class is a portrait of a journalist at the height of his powers, always evolving with the times, revealed by the stories he found and the unflinching way he told them.

Grant Wahl spent nearly twenty-five years on the staff at Sports Illustrated. While he primarily covered basketball early in his career--including a groundbreaking cover story on a high-schooler named LeBron James--his true passion was soccer. Wahl emerged as the authoritative American voice on the sport and a key driver of its growth in the States. He made an impact in podcasts and video series, through a vibrant social media presence, and in two books, Masters of Modern Soccer and the New York Times bestseller The Beckham Experiment. His Substack, Fútbol with Grant Wahl, burnished his reputation as one of sports journalism’s most influential and distinctive voices. He was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame and awarded the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s Colin Jose Award for contributions to the American game.