Grant Wahl named 2023 Colin Jose Media Award recipient

by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jan 25, 2023

Grant Wahl has been named the recipient of the 2023 Colin Jose Media Award for his contributions to soccer in the United States.

Wahl, who died at the age of 49 while covering the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, will be honored at this year’s National Soccer Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Frisco, Texas, on May 6.

Wahl was instrumental in helping popularize soccer with his work over more than two decades with Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, CBS Sports and his own Fútbol with Grant Wahl platform.

Wahl used his platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and other social issues. He was the author of “The Beckham Experiment” about England star David Beckham’s move to LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer and the “Masters of Modern Soccer” about the playing styles of soccer stars.

To honor Wahl at the USMNT's first match since the World Cup, U.S. Soccer had a "WAHL" jersey on an open seat in the press box for the USA-Serbia match in Los Angeles, along with a framed photo and flowers. A seat will always be left open for him at all home USMNT and USWNT matches from now until the 2026 World Cup.

The 2023 ceremony in Frisco, site of the Hall of Fame, will also feature the induction of the 2023 Hall of Fame class: DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan, Jill Ellis, Lauren Cheney Holiday, Kate Sobrero Markgraf and Steve Zungul.

• The Colin Jose Media Award honors journalists whose careers have made significant long-term contributions to soccer in the United States. Colin Jose, Historian Emeritus of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, is the preeminent soccer historian of North America and was a longtime contributor to Soccer America on North American soccer.

Past Colin Jose Media Award recipients
2020 – Andrés Cantor, Telemundo Deportes and other television broadcasters
2019 - Tony Quinn, Photojournalist
2018 - JP Dellacamera, FOX and other television broadcasters
2017 - Jim Trecker, Media Relations
2016 - Paul Kennedy, Soccer America
2013 - George Vecsey, New York Times
2012 - Grahame Jones, Los Angeles Times
2010 - Paul Gardner, Soccer America
2009 - Alex Yannis, New York Times
2008 - Ike Kuhns, Newark Star-Ledger
2007 - George Tiedemann, Sports Illustrated/Freelance Photography
2005 - Seamus Malin, ESPN and other television broadcasters
2004 - Jerry Trecker, Hartford Courant