Women's Football News

The Paris 2024 Olympics started with Canada spying on New Zealand via drones. The Football Ferns noticed two drones on separate occasions, but this opened Pandora’s box at Team Canada. If the report from TSN and the stories are correct: Canada has been spying on their opponents for years. Latest updates on Canada Drone Incident:

• Bev Priestman suspended for a year from any football related activities. Same goes for Lombardi and Mander. Read Priestman’s full statement here.
• Six points deduction for Canada.
• CHF 220.000 ($250.000) fine for Canada.
• Canada Men and Women have relied on drones for years.
• Canada Soccer will proceed with an independent external review. results will be shared publicly.
• Two Canadian employees were fired.
• Joseph Lombardi admitted to flying the drone.
• Whole staff needs to undergo ethics training.
• FIFA is investigating Bev Priestman, Team Canada, Joseph Lombari and Jasmine Mander.

Latest Updates on Canada Drone Incident

In the last 24 hours the Canadian Olympic Committee learned about previous drone use against opponents. Not only the women’s football team, but also the men’s, have relied on it for years according to sources. The COC therefor decided to remove Bev Priestman from the team. Andy Spence will replace her as head coach. According to the TSN report, Canada spied during the following matches:

• Olympics Tokyo 2021 match against Japan
• World Cup Qualifier 2022 match against Panama
• 2022 matches against Costa Rica, South Korea and Trinidad.
• Olympics Paris 2024 match against New Zealand

Sources tell TSN filming was part of Tokyo Olympics

Canada won the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but their gold medal is on the line. Sources confirmed to TSN that filming wa a part of their job during the tournament. It doesn’t get much better when more information comes forward on a Canadian contractor filming the Panama women’s team during World Cup 2023 qualifications.

The women’s team is not the only one being accused of spying. Staff members connected to the men’s side also used drones to spy on opponents. The sources say this happened against the USA in 2019 and Honduras in 2021.

What information was gathered during the spying?

Watching trainingsessiosn from your opponents gives you all the insight on their strategies. Sources explained what they were looking for: “You get to know their formations, their starting lineup. You also look at who is taking a penalty kick and their set pieces.”

“Most people see this as cheating, which it is,” one of the sources said. “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.”

Forced to film footage of opponents

If the spying is not bad enough some of the sources say they were forced to make the footage: “In a couple of scenarios, people have been pushed and have been told, ‘You have to give 110 percent and this is part of the job so if you don’t feel comfortable with doing this, you do not have a place on the team’. It’s not something that’s talked about and it’s not something there are a lot of text messages about because of how sensitive this is. Some of the people who have had to do the filming or review the filming have said to a few staff members how uncomfortable it was for them”, the source said.

The Drones at Paris 2024 Olympics led to a big investigation an Canada Soccer, by the organization itself, an independent party and FIFA. The findings will be made public. If Canada is as quilty as it seems they will probably be disqualified from the Paris 2024 Olympics and their Gold Medal from Tokyo 2021 might be taken away as well. We will keep you up to date on the latest Canada Drone Incident information.

Statement COC: Two Coaches Fired

The Canada Olympic Committee made a statement on the drone spy situation. Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander are both fired and removed from the team. The whole staff will also undergo ethics training.

Bev Priestman gave the following statement: “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.

“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.” Meaning she will not coach the opening match against the Football Ferns.

“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”, Canada Soccer stated. It’s very likely that however the tournament may end for CANWNT, a big part of the staff will be fired. Including Priestman.

Unfair for the CANWNT Players

Spying on the competition is cheating and something that should never happen. The staff members that flew the drone over the New Zealand training camp TWICE should not be allowed back in the sport. But in the end it’s the CANWNT players that are damaged the most. Yes, New Zealand’s training was being spied on, but the Canadian players can not end this tournament successfully. If they make it out of the group stage they will be followed by rumors around cheating.

Football Ferns file official complaint

The New Zealand women’s football team says they were spied on during their training session. The drone operator was arrested by the French Police and appears to be a member of the Canadian women’s football staff. Canada and New Zealand go head to head during the first match and start of their Olympic Games 2024 adventure in Group A. An official complaint has been filed by the NZ Olympic Committee and they asked for a full review.

Canada is not the first team that is caught with a drone. On Sunday the Brazilian delegation was apprehended over operating one. Prime Minister Attal says: “Systems are in place to allow us to very quickly intercept (drones) and arrest their operators. We can’t allow anything to slip past us.”

Apology from Canadian Olympic Committee

The Drones at Paris 2024 Olympics incident is being reviewed by the IOC, Canada Soccer, Paris 2024 and the FIFA. The Canadian Olympic Committee came with a statement:

“The staff member is believed to have been using a drone to record the New Zealand women’s football team during practice. The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair-play and we are shocked and disappointed. We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee.”

What the consequences of this are going to be is being reviewed: “We are reviewing next steps with the IOC, Paris 2024, Canada Soccer, and FIFA. We will provide an update later today (July 24th).”