Canada Olympic spy incident: Bev Priestman not coaching vs New Zealand

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PARIS — An unprecedented day for Canadian soccer ended with the national Olympic committee defending a head coach against charges of espionage, while two staff members were on their way home as punishment, all against the launch of an internal investigation.

Joseph Lombardi, an unaccredited member of the Canadian women’s coaching staff, was sent home on Wednesday, two days after rivals on the New Zealand staff spotted a drone in the sky above their practice field. He reported to Jasmine Mander, a valued assistant coach, who was also sent home.

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Head coach Bev Priestman will not be at the helm when Canada opens defence of its gold medal on Thursday, having removed herself from duty following the news. For now, she will not face any discipline from the Canadian Olympic Committee.

“We thought about all repercussions for Bev,” COC chief executive David Shoemaker told reporters on Wednesday. “At the end of the day, the drone footage related to the filming of two New Zealand practices and it remained in the hands of the pilot of the drone and the advantage that, I guess, was intended to be obtained was not attained, at least to the best of our ability to ascertain.”

As head of the COC, he said he “was persuaded by the fact that Bev Priestman had no involvement, no knowledge in the incident.”

Canada Soccer announced it would undertake an independent, external review of the women’s team as the COC is only responsible for the Canadian women’s soccer team within the confines of the Olympic tournament.

“Canada Soccer has always sought to prioritize integrity and fair competition, and we understand that competing with honesty is a baseline expectation for all Canadians. We failed to meet those expectations in this case, and for that, we apologize,” the association said in a statement.

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“This review will address the circumstances of the current matter, and more broadly, will seek to understand the historical culture of competitive ethics within all of our programs. The outcome of this review will be shared publicly and corrective actions, if necessary, will be taken.”

Wednesday’s news served as a distraction from what should have been a relatively straightforward match for No.8 Canada against the 28th-ranked team.

According to Shoemaker, New Zealand Football has registered a complaint to FIFA and asked that no points be awarded to Canada in the event Canada wins the match. FIFA also announced it is investigating Canada Soccer, Priestman, Lombardi, and Mander “due to the potential breach” of the organization’s disciplinary code and Olympic regulations.

Lombardi is a long-time technical coach who earned his Canada Soccer Coaching A Diploma in 2009 and continued to advance through the system. According to his Canada Soccer bio, Lombardi served on the team staff at the most recent FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

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Prior to that, he was a member of the Canadian staff at six FIFA youth tournaments from 2012 through 2022.

The COC said it provided Lombardi with legal and consular support after he was detained.

Mander, a 29-year-old from Richmond, B.C., is said to be an important voice on Priestman’s staff. She was an assistant on the 2021 gold medal-winning team in Tokyo.

A former kinesiology student at the University of British Columbia, Mander began her coaching career as a teenager, attending a FIFA regional coaching workshop in Canada in 2014. She quickly advanced through the domestic coaching system.

Authorities in Paris have instituted a ban on drones flying in airspace both around the city and in venues across the country — restrictions authorities said would be strictly enforced during the Olympics.

And that is how, suddenly, Canada is in the spotlight.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee said in a statement they were “deeply shocked and disappointed” about the drone incident. Preistman, and the COC, apologized on Wednesday.

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologize to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada. This does not represent the values that our team stands for,” Priestman said in a statement before Wednesday’s announcement. “I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program. Accordingly, to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday. In the spirit of accountability, I do this with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld.”

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