Drone-spying scandal: FIFA strips Canada of 6 points in Olympic women’s soccer, bans coaches 1 year

PARIS (AP) — FIFA docked six points from Canada in the Paris Olympics women’s soccer tournament and banned three coaches for one year each on Saturday in a drone-spying scandal.

The stunning swath of punishments include a 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,000) fine for the Canadian soccer federation in a case that has spiraled at the Summer Games. Two assistant coaches were caught using drones to spy on opponent New Zealand’s practices before their opening game last Wednesday.

Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced late Saturday that they were looking into an appeal, specifically of the deducted points.

“We feel terrible for the athletes on the Canadian women’s Olympic soccer team who as far as we understand played no role in this matter,” David Shoemaker, the Olympic committee’s CEO and secretary general, said in a statement. “In support of the athletes, together with Canada Soccer, we are exploring rights of appeal related to the six-point deduction at this Olympic tournament.”

Head coach Bev Priestman, who led Canada to the Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, already was suspended by the national soccer federation then removed from the Olympic tournament. Canadian officials suspect the spying has been systemic over years.

Priestman and assistants Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander are now banned from all soccer for one year.

FIFA judges said Priestman and her two assistants “were each found responsible for offensive behavior and violation of the principles of fair play.”

The case is likely now heading for the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s special Olympic court in Paris. That tribunal is set up for urgent hearings and verdicts at the Olympics, such as the coaches and Canadian federation challenging their sanctions.

The points deduction, if upheld by the CAS judges, does not eliminate Canada from the tournament. It could mean the team must win all three games in Group A and hope to advance with three points to the quarterfinals that start next Saturday, even as the third-place team in the standings.

Canada plays group leader France on Sunday in Saint-Etienne, then faces Colombia on Thursday in Nice.

Docking a team so many points is almost unprecedented in the middle of an international tournament.

“We are exploring options to appeal on the basis that it is excessively punitive towards our women’s national team players — who were not involved in any unethical behavior,” said Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer’s CEO. “Canada Soccer took swift action to suspend the implicated staff members and is also proceeding with a broad independent review that may lead to further disciplinary action.”

The case is a further embarrassment for the Canadian federation which is FIFA’s close partner in helping organize the biggest-ever men’s World Cup in 2026 across North America.

Two Canadian cities, Toronto and Vancouver, will stage some of the 104 games at a tournament expanding to include 48 teams instead of 32. Games also will be played in 11 cities in the United States and three in Mexico.

In the compact 17-day women’s soccer tournament at the Olympics, FIFA fast-tracked its own disciplinary process by asking its appeals judges to handle the Canadian case.

The Canadian federation was held responsible for not ensuring its staff complied with tournament rules.

There is no suggestion that the players were involved in the spying.

“At the moment we are trying to directly address what appears to look like it could be a systemic ethical shortcoming, in a way that’s frankly, unfortunately painful right now, but is turning out to be a necessary part of the rehabilitation process,” Blue said on Friday in a conference call with reporters.

The 38-year-old Priestman is from England and was hired in 2020 to coach the Canada team. She is under contract through the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

She had stepped aside from the defending champion’s Olympic opener against New Zealand on Wednesday after the scandal was revealed.

Her two staffers were sent home for allegedly using a drone to spy on New Zealand in training. Canada won the game 2-1 with interim coach Andy Spence in charge.

Blue said that after the opener he was made aware of new information related to the drone scandal, which led to Priestman’s suspension.

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AP Soccer Writer Anne M. Peterson contributed to this report.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games