The Canadian women’s soccer team has suffered a major punishment for starting the 2024 Paris Olympics on a scandalous note.
On Saturday, FIFA hit the team with a six-point deduction in the sport’s Olympic tournament and also banned manager Bev Priestman and two assistants for a year each as punishment for the drone scandal, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Tannenwald.
In the week leading up to the competition, New Zealand team officials filed a complaint to the International Olympic Committee upon seeing that Canadian team soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi was allegedly flying a drone to record the team’s practice on Monday.
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The Canadian Olympic Committee’s (COC) official statement mentioned that a “second drone incident” occurred at a New Zealand practice on July 19.
Priestman was removed and suspended Thursday after Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander were sent home Wednesday.
Andy Spence has been placed at the helm of the team for the remainder of the Olympics.
The COC completed the review of the incident with FIFA, and also stated Team Canada’s coaching staff will have to undergo “mandatory ethics training.”
The scandal reportedly wasn’t the first of its kind for Canada and has been in operation for years, and those who didn’t want to be a part of the operation were even pushed out of roles with the men’s and women’s programs.
In addition to the women’s club, the country’s men’s team also tried to use drones to spy on their opponents during the Copa America tournament, The Athletic reported.
The drone scandal brings to mind the “Spygate” scandal from 2007 when the Patriots, then led by head coach Bill Belichick, were fined $500,000 and lost a first-round draft pick for filming Jets’ defensive signal calls from a prohibited area during their Week 1 matchup.
