With women’s football set to get underway at the Paris Olympics today, Canada’s spy drone controversy continues to loom large over the event.
According to The Athletic, their first opponents in the tournament, New Zealand, had their Olympic Committee submit a complaint on Monday, July 22nd, accusing the reigning gold medallists of flying a drone over their training sessions in preparation for the match.
Yesterday, the Canadian Olympic Committee released a statement outlining how “a non-accredited member of the Canada Soccer support team was detained by French authorities in Saint-Étienne” following that complaint, and that the staff member is in fact “believed to have been using a drone to record the New Zealand women’s football team during practice.”
The organisation then went on to explain how it “stands for fair-play” and they are “shocked and disappointed” that such actions took place.
“We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee,” the statement continued.
“We are reviewing next steps with the IOC, Paris 2024, Canada Soccer, and FIFA. We will provide an update later today (July 24th),” it added.
Inside Canada’s spy drone controversy: continued
Later that day, the Canadian Olympic Committee then released another statement, explaining how, following a review and “upon learning of a second drone incident at a July 19th New Zealand practice”, that they would impose the following sanctions on the team:
- “Joseph Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer, is being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and will be sent home immediately.
- Jasmine Mander, an assistant coach to whom Mr. Lombardi report sent, is being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and will be sent home immediately.
- COC has accepted the decision of Head Coach Bev Priestman to remove herself from coaching the match against New Zealand on July 25th.
- Canada Soccer staff will undergo mandatory ethics training.”
They also detailed how they are in contact with both the IOC and FIFA and that “Canada Soccer has been transparent and cooperative throughout the process.”
“The COC will continue to review this matter and may take further action if necessary,” they added.
Speaking on the situation, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team Head Coach, Bev Priestman, mentioned how “this does not represent the values that [her] team stands for.”
“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologise to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada,” she says.
“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program. Accordingly, to emphasise our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday.
“In the spirit of accountability, I do this with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld.”
In response, New Zealand Football CEO, Andrew Pragnell commented in a statement that “there is no place for this type of action in football and it is critical that urgent action is undertaken to address this integrity breach.”
“To hear now that the Canadian team had filmed secret footage of our team training at least twice is incredibly concerning and if not treated urgently could have wider implications for the integrity of the tournament,” he added.
“We note that there have been some admissions by the Canadian National Olympic Committee, and they have taken their own sanctions against the Canadian team, however, considering the seriousness of the situation, and the potential implications to the sporting integrity of the entire tournament, we have referred the matter to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee seeking urgent action.”
In a statement yesterday, FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee confirmed that they had opened proceedings against Canada Soccer, Ms Beverly Priestman, Mr Joseph Lombardi and Ms Jasmine Mander due to a “potential breach” of the regulations.
Canada and New Zealand’s Group A match is scheduled to get underway at 5 p.m. local time or 4pm Irish time today in Saint-Étienne.
