News
Olympics: Canada Removes Coach Bev Priestman Following Discovery Of Drone Spying
Canada’s women’s national team head coach, Bev Priestman, has been removed from the country’s Olympic soccer team over a scandal involving the use of drones to spy on opponents’ practice, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced Thursday.
The COC announced that their decision was made following Canada Soccer’s choice to suspend Priestman for the duration of the tournament. This situation started earlier in the week when New Zealand, Canada’s first opponent, raised concerns about the International Olympic Committee’s integrity regarding drones being flown over closed practice sessions.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee has removed the Canadian Women’s National Soccer Team Head Coach Bev Priestman from the Canadian Olympic Team due to her suspension by Canada Soccer,” the COC statement read. “Assistant coach Andy Spence will lead the Women’s National Soccer Team for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
The announcement followed a report from TSN that Canada’s women’s and men’s soccer teams have used drones to record opponents’ closed-door training sessions for several years, including during the women’s gold-medal-winning Tokyo Olympic tournament in 2021.
“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 CEO and General Secretary Kevin Blue said in a statement.
“In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has decided 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.”
Following the complaint, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi were sent home from the Olympics.
Canada won its opening game of the Olympics 2-1 over New Zealand on Thursday. Canada played the opener without coach Priestman, who stepped away from the team for the match to show accountability.
However, during practice on Wednesday, she was firm in stating that she was unaware of the usage. Priestman had signed a contract in late January to lead Canada until the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
Priestman was appointed in November 2020 to replace Kenneth Heiner-Møller and had been operating under a rolling contract. She guided Canada to a gold medal at the 2021 Olympics, but the team was eliminated in the group stage of last year’s Cup.
She has coached the team to 28 wins, nine losses and 10 draws.
Priestman spent five years with the Canadian Association in various coaching positions before returning to her home country of England in June 2018. There, she coached the women’s under-18 team and served as an assistant coach for the senior women’s team.
Before that, she spent four and a half years as head of football development in New Zealand, leaving that role in June 2013.
