The Canada women’s soccer team will now be without head coach Bev Priestman for the rest of the Paris Olympics.
Canada Soccer announced on Thursday that, after their 2-1 win over New Zealand to kick off the games earlier in the day, Priestman was being suspended and sent home from the Olympics in the wake of their drone spying scandal. Assistant coach Andy Spence will serve as the team’s interim coach throughout the rest of the Olympics.
Though a Canada soccer staffer was caught flying a drone over New Zealand training earlier this week in France, which is what sparked the scandal in the first place, the issue has apparently been going on for quite some time. According to TSN, both the men’s and women’s national teams have “relied on drones and spying for years.” They even apparently used them to film closed door training sessions of opponents during the women’s team’s gold medal run in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, and the following summer as they were attempting to qualify for the Women’s World Cup.
“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 Kevin Blue said in a statement. “In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend women’s national 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.”
A Canadian soccer staffer, Joseph Lombardi, was detained by French police earlier this week after he was caught flying a drone over New Zealand practices multiple times ahead of their group stage game on Thursday. French police searched his hotel room and found drone footage from two closed training sessions, which he told police “had helped him to learn the tactics of the opposing team.” Lombardi was charged with flying an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area, and he accepted an eight-month suspended sentence.
The incident prompted multiple investigations. Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander, who is Lombardi’s boss, were both removed from the Canadian delegation and sent home as punishment. Priestman self-imposed a one-game suspension, and she was not on the sidelines for Thursday’s win over New Zealand.
“I am ultimately responsible for the conduct in our program,” Priestman said in a statement earlier this week while saying that she didn’t have knowledge of the drone operation.
Now, Priestman is on her way home early.
Canada won the gold medal in Tokyo with a win over Sweden in the final. The United States women’s national team finished in third after they beat Australia in the bronze medal game. Canada will take on France next in group play on Sunday.