Canada Soccer has suspended Canadian women’s head coach Bev Priestman for the rest of the Paris Olympic Games in reaction to the team’s drone spying scandal.
Assistant coach Andy Spence will lead the defending Olympic gold medalists for the remainder of the Games. Canada Soccer said Priestman’s suspension will continue until the conclusion of an external review into the scandal.
Additional information related to the previous use of drones led to the suspension said Kevin Blue, CEO of Canada Soccer.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” said Blue via a Canada Soccer and Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) statements. “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.”
Canada Soccer sent home from Olympic Games
News broke Tuesday that a “non-accredited” member of Canada Soccer’s support team had been detained by French authorities in Saint-Étienne. They were accused of using a drone to record New Zealand’s practice ahead of Thursday’s tournament opener.
Jasmine Mander, and assistant coach, and Joseph Lombardi, an analyst with the team, were sent home from the Olympics Wednesday.
Loading ...On the same day, Canada coach Priestman voluntarily removed herself from Thursday’s game.
“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,” said Priestman at the time, via a statement. “This does not represent the values that our team stands for.”
FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, announced it had opened an investigation into the matter Wednesday.
In the meantime, Canada opened their tournament with a 2-1 win over New Zealand Thursday. And they next face hosts France on Sunday, before wrapping up the group stage against Columbia Wednesday.
