Canada Soccer has suspended head coach Bev Priestman and sent her home from the Paris Olympics following a drone spying scandal. The decision came after Canada’s 2-1 victory over New Zealand, which was the team’s opening match of the Games.
The scandal erupted when a Canada Soccer staff member was caught flying a drone over New Zealand’s training sessions earlier this week. This incident led to revelations that both the men’s and women’s national teams have used drones to spy on opponents for years, including during the women’s team’s gold medal run at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and their World Cup qualification campaign.
Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue announced the suspension in light of new information about previous drone use. Assistant coach Andy Spence will serve as the interim coach for the remainder of the Olympics.
The staffer involved, Joseph Lombardi, was detained by French police, who found drone footage from New Zealand’s closed training sessions in his hotel room. Lombardi was charged with flying an unmanned aircraft over a restricted area and has received an eight-month suspended sentence.
