FIFA hinders Canada’s chances for an Olympic women’s soccer repeat with punishments for drone spying

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FIFA suspended Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman for one year, deducted six points from the team’s Olympic group stage total and issued a fine on Saturday in response to Canada flying a drone over New Zealand’s training sessions before the start of the Games.

The punishment immediately and severely hurt the chances for a second consecutive gold medal for Canada, which won the Olympic tournament in Tokyo in 2021, a run that was immediately questioned as the drone scandal emerged.

Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) are exploring appeals to FIFA’s decision concerning the six docked points, viewing it as “excessively punitive” to the players, they said in statements Saturday.

“We feel terrible for the athletes on the Canadian women’s Olympic soccer team who as far as we understand played no role in this matter,” COC CEO David Shoemaker said.

The user of the drone in the incident that kicked off a large-scale investigation into Canada Soccer, team analyst Joseph Lombardi, was suspended for one year, as was assistant coach Jasmine Mander. The chairman of the FIFA appeal committee issued the decision.

FIFA found violations of article 13 of its code of conduct and article 6.1 of the Olympic football tournament regulations, both related to fair play. FIFA also noted that the decision was made — very quickly — because of its impact on the outcome of the ongoing Olympic tournament. Canada, in Group A, won its opener against New Zealand 2-1, and plays host France on Sunday.

FIFA’s fine is 200,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to $312,700 Canadian (or roughly $225,000 U.S.), another blow for a federation that has struggled financially over the course of the past year.

While the incident occurred at the Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee could also impose its own sanctions, FIFA also has jurisdiction as the international governing body, as it has “control and direction” of the Olympic tournaments for both the men and women.

New Zealand had directly requested that FIFA not award Canada any points for its victory over the Ferns in the group stage in the lead-up to Saturday’s decision. New Zealand commended the “swift action” taken against Canada but said it still believes Canada had “an unfair sporting advantage gained by filming our key tactical sessions.”

“It’s disappointing that New Zealand has been placed in such a position by actions of this nature, that impact the entire tournament, but now our focus is firmly on our remaining games against Colombia and France,” New Zealand Football said in a statement Saturday.

Canada Soccer could ask for a “motivated decision,” which would include a greater explanation of FIFA’s ruling that would be publicly posted on FIFA’s legal homepage, and the decision could also be appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Canada could still advance out of Group A (which includes France, Colombia and New Zealand) if it wins all three of its matches to earn three points through the end of the group stage, depending on other results. With the limited size of the Olympic tournament at 12 teams, eight must advance — which means the top two third-place teams make it to the quarterfinals. There’s even a remote chance for Canada to advance on a single point, though it would have to rely on other poor performances and goal differentials to get through.

Canada Soccer removed Priestman from the Olympics on Friday, saying “additional information” came to light regarding previous drone use against opponents before the Paris Games. The federation has promised to perform its own investigation across the entirety of its program.

Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said that based on what he had learned so far, he was concerned there was “a potential long-term, deeply embedded systemic culture” of surveillance of other teams.

Canada Soccer had hoped to avoid any direct repercussions for the team in France. Blue stressed multiple times that players were unaware of any drone use, and should not be punished.

“Specifically, we do not feel that a deduction of points in this tournament would be fair to our players, particularly in light of the significant and immediate steps we’ve taken to address the situation,” he said Friday. Blue used this same argument again in his statement on Saturday: “Canada Soccer took swift action to suspend the implicated staff members and is also proceeding with a broad independent review that may lead to further disciplinary action.”

The joint decision to appeal FIFA’s decision, specifically on the grounds of the six points docked for Canada’s group stage play, is unsurprising but may not prove successful. FIFA’s disciplinary committee was largely concerned only with what happened at the Olympics over the past week. While players did not participate in the use of drones or other wrongdoing, they still potentially — if unwittingly — benefitted from their use.

After staff members for the New Zealand team reported a drone flying above their practice in Saint-Étienne on July 22, they notified local police. Lombardi, an “unaccredited analyst” with Canada’s women’s team, was detained, and law enforcement found footage from a previous New Zealand training session on July 19.

Canada Soccer attempted to head off any further punishment by sending Lombardi and Mander (the assistant coach he reported to) back home. Priestman also announced she would not coach in Canada’s opening match against New Zealand.

But the situation advanced quickly.

Blue said he was aware of multiple incidents across the program based on anecdotal evidence — including an attempt to use a drone to watch an opponent’s training session at Copa America.

A representative for Priestman told The Athletic that she was shocked and devastated by FIFA’s decision.

(Photo: Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images)