Canada head coach Bev Priestman suspended from Olympics amid spying saga

Canada head coach Bev Priestman has now been suspended for the rest of the Olympics as the drone spying saga that has engulfed the women’s football competition rumbles on.

Claims emerged earlier this week that a drone was used to spy on the training sessions of New Zealand – Canada’s opening opponent in Group A of the women’s football tournament – and assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi were subsequently sent home by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC).

Now the COC have issued a statement saying that Priestman had been removed from her role after “additional information” came to their attention regarding previous drone use that took place prior to Paris 2024.

Canada Soccer CEO & General Secretary Kevin Blue confirmed Priestman’s suspension until an “independent external review” is completed, saying: “Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision 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.”

This suspension came after Canadian news outlet TSN reported that, according to sources, coaching staff and contractors at Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have filmed closed-door training sessions for years. Canada’s women’s team reportedly used espionage in preparation for their gold medal victory in the final of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Canada beat New Zealand 2-1 in their Olympic tournament opener on Thursday evening without Priestman, who claimed that she had voluntarily withdrawn herself from the team.

It has now been reported that Priestman was removed from her post after Canada Soccer, the sport’s national governing body, took action when a systemic problem relating to the team’s use of drones was brought to their attention.

TSN’s sources have also revealed that, away from the Olympics, Canada were filming their opponent’s training sessions in a bid to qualify for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia.

Ahead of their match against Panama in July 2022, a Canadian contractor was caught attempting to film a private Panama training session and so a complaint was made by the Panamanian Football Federation to Canada Soccer and Concacaf.

One of TSN’s sources has suggested that the process of obtaining footage at Concacaf tournaments and the Tokyo Olympics was made easier by the fact that Canada Soccer knew where teams were practising.

“When you’re abroad, it requires a little bit more research. When you are in Concacaf events, you do have the ability of finding out where the rest of the teams are training because Concacaf, FIFA, and the Olympics, they all publish where the teams are training in one way or another,” the source said. “You also know just by looking at the social media from the other teams and seeing what pictures they are posting.”

“Most people see this as cheating, which it is,” one of the sources added. “Some of our coaches just see it as a competitive advantage and justify it by saying everyone does it, which is also not true. Not everyone cheats and neither should we.”

Canada Soccer have announced that they will launch an independent third-party investigation into the incident, looking into the historical ethical practices of both men’s and women’s teams as well as the use of drones in France.

Before her suspension, Priestman issued a statement apologising and taking responsibility for the scandal but ultimately implied that the decision to leave was on her terms.

“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,” she said on Wednesday. “Accordingly, to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday.”

Additional reporting by PA