FIFA has deducted six points from Canada’s Olympic women’s football team and suspended their coach, Beverly Priestman, for a year after a staff member used a drone to spy on a rival team at the Paris Games.
FIFA announced the penalty on Saturday, stating that Canada’s football association violated regulations prohibiting drones over training sites. Alongside the point deduction, FIFA fined Canada 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,000).
This ruling severely impacts Canada’s chances of defending their Olympic title, leaving them with minus three points in Group A. Despite beating New Zealand 2-1 in their opening game, they now must win their next two matches to have any hope of reaching the quarter-finals.
Analyst Joey Lombardi received a suspended eight-month prison sentence for flying the drone over a New Zealand training session. He was sent home, along with assistant Jasime Mander. Priestman withdrew from the game against New Zealand and was later suspended by Canada Soccer.
FIFA also suspended Lombardi and Mander from any football-related activities for a year, citing “offensive behaviour and violation of the principles of fair play.”
Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue argued that the players were unaware of the drone footage.
“The players themselves have not been involved in any unethical behaviour. We do not feel that a deduction of points in this tournament would be fair to our players,” Blue said.
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Defender Vanessa Gilles expressed the team’s frustration, saying, “There was a lot of emotion, frustration, and humiliation because as a player, it doesn’t reflect our values and what we want to represent as competitors at the Olympics. The Games represent fair play. As Canadians, these are not our values or those of our country. We are not cheats.”
David Shoemaker, chief executive of the Canadian Olympic Committee, noted that the scandal has also cast a shadow over Canada’s gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.