Coach Bev Priestman of Canada takes photos on the pitch at Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, on July 23, in Saint-Etienne, France.Silvia Izquierdo/The Associated Press
Days before the start of the Olympics in Paris, the Canadian women’s soccer team – the defending Olympic champions – have become embroiled in a cheating scandal after an analyst working for the team was discovered illegally filming the practice of the New Zealand squad with a drone.
The incident, which is under investigation by both FIFA and Canada Soccer, has resulted in two Canadian staff members being sent home, one of whom was charged by local police, and questions being raised about the future of head coach Bev Priestman.
Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer David Shoemaker said on Wednesday he believes Canada has taken appropriate steps to contain a soccer spying scandal and keep the faith with Ms. Priestman.
“Winning the right way is the only way for us,” Mr. Shoemaker said. “We are satisfied that these steps are appropriate.”
The COC said head coach Ms. Priestman offered to remove herself from the first game on Thursday – which is against New Zealand – but she will return to her duties after that.
“Irrespective of the details, I’m ultimately accountable for this team,” Ms. Priestman told The Canadian Press.
“By no means did I direct the individuals,” Ms. Priestman said. “I’m still learning the details and obviously this is all unfolding. But again, I think the important thing right now is to look forward, put the actions in place and take the sanctions.”
On Wednesday, Canada Soccer announced it would launch an independent review that will investigate the circumstances around the drone use, as well as a larger issues of competitive ethics within its programs. Meanwhile FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, announced it will investigate two coaches and one staffer of the Canadian team – including head coach Ms. Priestman – for violating its disciplinary code.
The other two, analyst Joseph Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander, were sent home from the Olympics on Wednesday.
According to a statement provided to The Globe and Mail by prosecutor David Charmatz, who handles the Saint–Étienne region where the incident took place, police were called after New Zealand’s team manager noticed a drone hovering above the squad’s morning practice on Monday. The New Zealand team stopped its closed-door training session once the drone was spotted.
Police soon arrested the machine’s pilot, a 43-year-old man, who, according to the statement, told investigators he worked as a Canadian youth soccer coach who was in France working as an independent sports analyst for Canada Soccer on behalf of the women’s team.
The Globe has confirmed this individual was Mr. Lombardi.
Paulo Senra, a spokesperson for Canada Soccer, said Mr. Lombardi is a full-time staffer with the sports body. He is the federation’s director of the women’s youth excel program, but was asked to help the national team in Paris as an analyst.
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The footage seized from Mr. Lombardi’s recordings showed New Zealand players executing instructions given by their coach as well as images from a previous practice on July 20, said the statement. Mr. Lombardi later told the public prosecutor that the footage helped him learn the opposing team’s strategy.
According to the prosecutor’s statement, Mr. Lombardi informed one of the Canadian team’s assistant coaches of his intentions to visit the New Zealand practice site. This coach, Ms. Mander, was also interviewed but told officials she was “uninvolved in the committed acts” and was cleared of wrongdoing.
Neither Mr. Lombardi nor Ms. Mander could be reached for comment.
Mr. Lombardi was charged with maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area. Because he admitted the offence, he was eligible for an immediate appearance procedure.
The analyst agreed to an eight-month suspended sentence, which included the seizure of any computer equipment used to commit the offences, Mr. Charmatz said in an e-mail.
In a release, FIFA said proceedings against all three will begin “in the next days.”
Early Wednesday morning, the Canadian Olympic Committee said that a “non-accredited” staffer had been detained by authorities.
Later, the COC acknowledged there were two instances of spying on the practices of the New Zealand women’s team, one last week and one this week.
In announcing the sports body’s review, Canada Soccer president Peter Augruso and CEO Kevin Blue expressed their “unequivocal disapproval of the actions taken by members of our Women’s National Team staff at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.” The executives apologized to the affected players, officials and coaching staff.
“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,” they said in the statement.
Upon the conclusion of the Olympics, the COC said that Canada Soccer staff will undergo ethics training.
On Monday, the New Zealand Olympic Committee complained to the IOC’s integrity unit about a drone flying overhead of their practice in Saint-Étienne, the site of Canada’s opening match against New Zealand.
The NZOC said in a statement: “The NZOC and New Zealand Football are committed to upholding the integrity and fairness of the Olympic Games and are deeply shocked and disappointed by this incident, which occurred just three days before the sides are due to face each other in their opening game of Paris 2024.”
On Thursday, assistant coach Andy Spence will be in charge on the Canadian sidelines in the Group A opener.