FIFA Deducts Six Points From Canadian Women’s Team Over Drone Scandal

Canada has deducted six points from the Olympic women’s football tournament and their head coach Bev Priestman banned for a year, global governing body FIFA said on Saturday, following a drone spying scandal that has tainted their gold medal defense.

Canada’s Olympic women’s football team has been penalized six points, and their head coach Bev Priestman has received a one-year ban, as announced by FIFA on Saturday.

This decision follows a scandal involving drone surveillance that has overshadowed their defense of the gold medal.

The Canadian Soccer Association was also fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,346) in a case that rocked the Paris Games’ football tournament.

Priestman, who has been the team’s coach since 2020 and guided them to victory at the Tokyo Olympics the following year, along with Canadian officials Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, has been banned from all soccer-related activities for one. FIFA said “offensive behavior and violation of the principles of fair play” as the reasons for the bans.

New Zealand complained that Canadian staff flew drones over their training sessions before their opening fixture at the Olympics, which Canada won 2-1.

As a result of FIFA’s ruling, the reigning Olympic champions will find themselves with a negative three points in Group A with two matches remaining. They now have a significant challenge to advance beyond the group stage.

The decision remains subject to a potential appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Canada is set to face France, the current leader of Group A by three points, on Sunday. Following that match, they will go up against Colombia, who, like New Zealand, have yet to earn any points, on Wednesday.

The top two teams in each group and the two best third-ranked teams qualify for the Olympic quarter-finals.

The incident caused Priestman and the other officials involved to be suspended by Canada Soccer, the sport’s national governing body, and sent home from the Games.

The Canadian Olympic Committee removed Priestman on Thursday after her suspension by Canada Soccer. Assistant Andy Spence will coach Canada for the remainder of the Games.

Priestman apologized on Wednesday for what had happened and said ultimate responsibility lay with her. “This does not represent the values that our team stands for,” she said.

The scandal has led to angry calls for the Canadian women’s team to be sent home from the Games.

Canadian sports network TSN reported that drone use predates the 2024 Olympics. Sources indicated to the network that the team had also recorded footage of other opponents’ training sessions, including during the previous Olympic tournament in 2021.

“CSA was found responsible for failing to respect the applicable FIFA regulations in connection with its failure to ensure the compliance of its participating officials… with the prohibition on flying drones over any training sites,” FIFA said.

“The officials were each found responsible for offensive behavior and violation of the principles of fair play in connection with the CSA’s Women’s representative team’s drone usage.”

There was no immediate comment from Canada Soccer or the Canadian Olympic Committee.