Canada loses appeal in soccer drone spying case as details of investigation emerge

PARIS –

A sports arbitration court on Wednesday dismissed Canada’s appeal of a six-point penalty against its Olympic women’s soccer team, as a report by the FIFA Appeals Committee suggested drone spying may have been “systemically embedded” in the culture of the women’s national team.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its panel of three arbitrators rejected the appeal by Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer to reverse the penalty imposed in relation to a bombshell drone spying scandal involving the team’s coaching staff.

The statement came less than eight hours before the Canadians were set to face Colombia at the Paris Olympics. Arbitrators said they would publish the grounds for their decision at a later date.

“While disappointed in the outcome of our appeal, we commend the players for their incredible resilience and grit over the course of this tournament, and look forward to cheering them on in today’s match against Colombia,” the COC and Canada Soccer said in a joint statement responding to the decision.

Governing body FIFA docked six points from the women’s team after a Canadian staffer was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand team practices before the start of competition at the Paris Games.

The COC and Canada Soccer had asked the arbitration court to cancel or reduce the points deduction, arguing it was disproportionate and unfairly punished the players when there is no suggestion they were involved.

Canada Soccer was also fined more than $300,000 and three team members — including head coach Bev Priestman — were suspended for one year.

The decision meant the defending Olympic champions needed to beat Colombia Wednesday night to advance to the knockout stage of the Olympic tournament, which they did with a 1-0 victory.

Meanwhile, a document posted on FIFA’s website reveals some of the details of the investigation, and includes an admission from Canada Soccer that the spying may have gone far beyond the Paris Olympics. The document, dated July 28, includes an email exchange from March between Priestman and a performance analyst who registers their objection to “spying” on other teams.

“As discussed yesterday, in terms of the ‘spying’ conversation, I came off the meeting with clarity that you understood my reasons for me being unwilling to do this moving forward,” read the email dated March 20, which was provided to FIFA by Canada Soccer. The author, whose name is redacted, lists moral objections, concerns about their reputation and an inability to fulfill their duties on game day as their reasons.

In another email sent the same day to a different recipient, Priestman asks for advice on how to respond and suggests the practice of “scouting” is widespread.

“Seeking your advice and input here regarding this formal email on spying,” Priestman wrote. “It’s something the analyst has always done and I know there is a whole operation on the men’s side with regards to it.”

She went on to write: “as for scouting it can be the difference between winning and losing and all top 10 teams do it.”

According to the FIFA document, Canada Soccer said the “spying” and “scouting” refers to “flying drones for scouting purposes,” adding that the emails “call 1/8ed 3/8 into question whether this practice had been systemically embedded in the culture of the women’s national team.”

According to the FIFA report, Canada Soccer also suggested that flying drones was a practice started by someone other than Priestman. While the name is redacted in FIFA’s report, an unredacted copy obtained by The Canadian Press names John Herdman, the former head of both the men’s and women’s national teams. “Canada is investigating the history of this matter, but we suspect that the practice of using a drone stems back to John Herdman when he was the head coach of the women’s national team. In other words, this was a practice started by one person — John Herdman — and continued by Bev Priestman,” Canada Soccer said, according to the FIFA document.

Canada Soccer declined Wednesday to comment on the unredacted FIFA report.

“The independent investigation is currently underway and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further. When we have more to share, we will communicate it publicly,” Canada Soccer communications officer Paulo Senra said in an emailed statement.

Canada Soccer said Tuesday that it has started an external review into the drone incident in Paris, and would review other matters, including history, at a later date.

Priestman and Mander confirmed they would respect the sanction. In his own statement to the FIFA disciplinary committee, Lombardi claimed responsibility for the decision to fly the drone, saying he “wanted to impress the Canadian Women’s technical staff” and nobody else was involved.

Canada is aiming to reach the medal podium for a fourth straight time after winning bronze in 2012 and 2016 before taking gold three years ago in Tokyo.

The squad had to fight through the distractions over the last week to open the tournament with three straight wins, including the victory over Colombia which moved the squad into the quarterfinals against Germany on Saturday in Marseille.

Canadian defender Ashley Lawrence said Tuesday that the team was keeping its focus squarely on winning the game.

“We can’t control it, we can only control getting the win,” she said. “That is our motivating factor. We want to go into the game 100 per cent to blow it out of the water and win.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2024.

With files from Gregory Strong in Nice