Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

'Ted Lasso' pays tribute to soccer journalist Grant Wahl

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 4/6/23

Longtime soccer journalist Grant Wahl worked as a consultant for the show “Ted Lasso,” so it was only fitting that the sports comedy-drama paid tribute at the end of Wednesday’s episode to Wahl, who passed away in December from an aortic aneurysm while covering the World Cup in Qatar.

Wahl’s widow, Dr. Celine Gounder, shared her appreciation for the tribute via Twitter, disclosing that Season 3 of the show will be based on Wahl’s book “The Beckham Experiment,” which chronicles David Beckham’s move from La Liga to Major League Soccer and is featured during a scene in Wednesday’s episode in which the show’s co-creator Brendan Hunt, who plays coach Beard, is shown holding a copy of Wahl’s book.

1/ S3E4 of @TedLasso

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe...

Thank you, @jasonsudeikis, @brendanhunting, @brettgoldstein.

This episode means so much to me and my family. pic.twitter.com/4Kz3FzUCXw
— Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA (@celinegounder) April 5, 2023

An incredibly well done tribute to Grant Wahl, #TedLasso. pic.twitter.com/9SM5ZMCDXN
— Kelsey Price (@KPkelsey) April 5, 2023

“I can't think of a better way to honor Grant...with an episode about love and love of the beautiful game,” Gounder tweeted after the episode aired. “It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe…”

Gounder also revealed in addition to Wahl providing the inspiration for the new season, the character of journalist Trent Crimm is based on Wahl and the character of Zava is based on Beckham.

“As we were putting together the storyline of Trent embedding himself with the team, that’s exactly what Grant did with LA Galaxy,” Hunt told IndieWire. “So we reached out to him with a few questions, hoping he might have some time to give us some quick answers. He gave us voluminous responses to every single question that were so helpful. Putting the Trent story together, he was just so generous with his time. It’s a really, really terrible loss.”

Wahl, who spent most of his career at Sports Illustrated, covered eight FIFA men’s World Cups, four FIFA women’s World Cups, and five Olympic Games. He and “Ted Lasso” co-creator and star Jason Sudeikis were close friends.

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