Canada's Olympic women's soccer team is mired in an off-the-field controversy that threatens to derail their chances for glory at the Paris games. The scandal involves the reported use of drones to spy on opposing teams, and has led to the suspension of Canada's coach and questions about how much Canadian soccer officials knew.
The scandal marks a fall from grace for a Canadian team that is the reigning world champion, having won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. What happened at the Paris games to cause the scandal, and where does Canada's Olympic women's team go from here?
What is the crux of the scandal?
The incident began on July 22 when staff members for New Zealand's Olympic women's soccer team "noticed a drone flying above their practice" in Paris and called the police, said The Athletic. Law enforcement "tracked the drone back to its operator, Joseph Lombardi, an 'unaccredited analyst' with the Canadian women’s team." Lombardi was eventually arrested, and it was also revealed that a "separate drone incident at New Zealand training — on July 19 — had come to light."
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Following an investigation, it was determined that Lombardi was "believed to have been using a drone to record the New Zealand women's football team during practice," the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said in a statement. As the investigation continued, it was revealed that this was likely not "an isolated incident but a much larger pattern that extends across both the women's and men's national teams," Canada Soccer CEO and general secretary Kevin Blue said to reporters, per The Athletic.
The Canadian team's coach, Beverly Priestman, also appeared to be aware of the spying. The use of drones to spy on other clubs is "something the analyst has always done and I know there is a whole operation on the men's side with regards to it," Priestman previously wrote in an email released by FIFA, adding that it was the "difference between winning and losing and all top 10 teams do it."
What is the fallout from the scandal?
The biggest fallout was the removal of Priestman, which came at the behest of the COC; the coach was suspended from the Canadian team for one year in addition to fines being levied. Priestman was "absolutely heartbroken for the players, and I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the impact this situation has had on all of them," the now-suspended coach said in a statement after the spying allegations came to light.
In addition, FIFA "assessed a six-point penalty on the women's team during its Olympic run" as a penalty for the spying scandal, said NPR. This was a "major setback that meant Canada would need to win all three group stage games to advance." The team appealed FIFA's decision on the matter, but their effort was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Despite the six-point deduction, Canada did win all three group stage games, and "will next face Germany in the Olympic quarterfinals."
Aside from the Paris games, the scandal "threatens to spread beyond the Olympics, where Canada is the defending women's champion, to the men's team at the 2026 World Cup," said The Associated Press. Even as "Canada's players revived their Olympic title hopes on the field, the damage to the country's reputation for soccer integrity was hit hard," and there are "risks [of] further damage from spinoff investigations."
On the back of the drone fallout, the Canadian team is attempting to move past the issue — at least on the field. The players "haven't slept in the last three days. We haven't eaten. We've been crying," player Vanessa Gilles said to reporters after Canada beat France. They are "not cheaters. We're damn players. We're a damn good team. We're a damn good group, and we proved that today."
