Canada women’s soccer coach: Accused of spying
Canada’s women’s soccer coach, Bev Priestman, has been suspended as coach for one year for espionage.
While the Canadian team has been penalized six points during these Olympic Games, something that leaves them with little chance of advancing.
The announcement was made by FIFA on Saturday, after investigating allegations that Canadian staff members used a drone to spy on an opponent’s closed practice session last week.
For its part, the Canadian team, which is hoping to defend the gold medal it won at the last Olympics in Tokyo, has a six-point penalty that will make it very difficult to advance to the knockout rounds.
In addition, Priestman, who coached as an assistant to Phil Neville, with the England women’s national team before taking charge of Canada in 2020, is banned from “participating in any football-related activity” for 12 months.
The sanctions, which also included a fine to the Canadian federation of around $226,000, were for violating “applicable FIFA regulations in relation to its failure to ensure compliance … with the ban on flying drones over any training site,” FIFA said in its statement.
Canada’s women’s soccer coach is singled out as the responsible party in this occurrence.
“Each of the officials was found responsible for offensive behavior and violation of the principles of fair play,” the statement continued.
Priestman’s two assistants involved in the case, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, were also banned from soccer for one year.
READ HERE: The opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games.
Canada women’s soccer coach
Canada’s women’s soccer coach has not coached at these Olympics after she walked away from the team for its first match against New Zealand last week before Canada’s federation announced she would be suspended for the remainder of the tournament.
She was subsequently sent home from the Olympics by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC).
Canada Soccer has also announced an independent investigation into the incident, as well as several previous similar circumstances that could indicate a systemic pattern.
Canada will play France on Sunday in Saint-Etienne and will need a win to stay alive in the tournament.
Canada won its opening match, but would need to win its remaining two group stage matches to have any hope of advancing to the quarterfinals as one of the two third-place teams.
Andy Spence, who previously coached the Everton women’s team and joined Priestman’s staff in 2022, has been coaching Canada in Priestman’s absence.
