FIFA hampers Canada’s chances of repeating Olympic women’s football championship with drone spying penalties

FIFA suspended Canadian women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman for a year, deducted six points from Canada’s total points tally in the Olympic group stage and fined her on Saturday for flying a drone over New Zealand’s training sessions before the Games began.

The penalty immediately and significantly damaged Canada’s chances of winning a second consecutive gold medal. The country had won the 2021 Tokyo Olympics; that streak was immediately called into question when the drone scandal emerged.

The drone user in the incident that sparked a major investigation into Canada Soccer, team analyst Joseph Lombardi, has been suspended for a year, as has assistant coach Jasmine Mander, the chairman of FIFA’s appeals committee announced the decision.

FIFA found violations of Article 13 of its Code of Conduct and Article 6.1 of the Olympic Football Tournament Rules, both of which concern fair play. FIFA also noted that the decision was taken – very quickly – because it would affect the outcome of the ongoing Olympic tournament. Canada, in Group A, won its opening match against New Zealand 2-1 and will play hosts France on Sunday.

FIFA’s fine amounts to 200,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to 312,700 Canadian dollars (or around 225,000 US dollars), and is another blow to an association that has run into financial difficulties over the past year.

Although the incident occurred at the Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee could also impose sanctions, FIFA, as the international governing body, also has jurisdiction as it has the “control and direction” of both men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments.

In the run-up to Saturday’s decision, New Zealand had asked FIFA directly not to award Canada any points for its victory over the Ferns in the group stage.

Canada Soccer has been notified of the decision and may request a “reasoned decision,” which would include a more detailed explanation of FIFA’s decision, which would be published publicly on FIFA’s legal website. The decision could also be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Canada could still advance from Group A (which includes France, Colombia and New Zealand) if it wins all three games and earns three points by the end of the group stage, depending on other results. Since the Olympic tournament only has 12 teams, eight must advance – meaning the two best third-placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals. There is even a slim chance Canada could advance with a single point, but it would have to rely on other poor performances and goal difference to do so.

Canada Soccer banned Priestman from the Olympics on Friday because “additional information” came to light about the past use of drones against opponents before the Paris Games. The association has promised to conduct its own investigation into its entire program.

Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said his findings so far have left him concerned that there may be “a long-term, deep-rooted systemic culture” of monitoring other teams.

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Canada Soccer had hoped to avoid direct consequences for the team in France. Blue stressed several times that the players had no knowledge of the drone use and therefore should not be punished.

“In particular, we do not believe that a point deduction in this tournament would be fair to our players, especially given the significant and immediate steps we have taken to remedy the situation,” he said on Friday.

FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee essentially only dealt with the events at the Olympic Games last week.

After reporting a drone over their training in Saint-Étienne on July 22, New Zealand team staff notified local police. Lombardi, a “non-accredited analyst” for the Canadian women’s team, was arrested, and police found footage of an earlier training session involving the New Zealanders on July 19.

Canada Soccer attempted to avoid further penalties by sending Lombardi and Mander (the assistant coach he reported to) home. Priesman also announced that she would not coach Canada’s opening match against New Zealand.

But the situation quickly escalated.

Blue said he was aware of several incidents across the program based on anecdotal evidence, including an attempt to use a drone to observe an opponent’s training at the Copa America.

This story is constantly evolving. More information to come.

(Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)