Canada Soccer have announced that they have suspended women’s head coach Bev Priestman for the balance of the after a member of her staff used a drone to spy on two New Zealand training sessions. Canada beat New Zealand 2-1 in their opening match at the Summer Games on Thursday.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue said.
“In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend women’s national soccer team head coach Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and until the completion of our recently announced independent external review.”
This came a day after Canadian assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi were sent home from the over the affair.
Drone flown over closed training session
The series of events started when two members of New Zealand’s support team spotted a drone flying over one of their training sessions and notified police.
Police then arrested Lombardi and charged him with maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area. Lombardi confessed and was handed an eight-month suspended sentence.
New Zealand also registered a complaint with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) integrity unit.
Priestman withdraws from New Zealand match
Although Priestman denied any knowledge of the spying, she had previously said she would voluntarily refrain from coaching in the New Zealand match.
“My reaction was, you feel like this program has let the country down,” she told reporters after a training session on Wednesday.
Priestman, who had previously worked as a coach for New Zealand Football, also apologized to New Zealand’s players.
“This does not represent the values that our team stands for,” she said. “I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said in a statement on Friday that it had now removed coach Priestman from the Olympic team due to her suspension by Canada Soccer.
Football’s world governing body FIFA has said that it has launched disciplinary proceedings against Canada Soccer, as well as Priestman, Mander and Lombardi.
Canada Soccer said Wednesday it would launch an independent external review about the drone incident and the historical culture of competitive ethics throughout all of its programs.
‘We are not cheats’
Canadian players have expressed deep disappointment at the turn of events.
Defender Vanessa Gilles described the affair as a “humiliation” for the gold medalists from the Tokyo Games in 2021.
“As a Canadian, these are not our values,” she said. ” We are not cheats.”
Assistant coach Andy Spence is to take charge of the Canadian women’s team for the rest of the tournament, starting with their match against hosts France in Saint-Etienne on Sunday.
at the Tokyo Games in 2021 by beating Sweden in a penalty shootout in the final.
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