Scandal in the skies: FIFA bans Canada’s coach over drone espionage at Paris Olympics

Canada’s Olympic team has been hit with a six-point deduction and their coach, Bev Priestman, has been banned for 12 months by FIFA over a drone spying incident at the Paris Olympics, Soccernet.football reports.

Bev Priestman, who previously served as assistant coach for the England women’s football team under Phil Neville from 2018 to 2020, took charge of the Canadian team four years ago.

However, she was removed from her role as Canada’s Olympic head coach on Friday.

FIFA announced that Priestman breached ‘the principles of fair play’ by using drones to spy on rival teams’ training sessions.

In addition to the coach’s suspension, the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) has been fined £175,720 due to the incident.

Despite these sanctions, Canada’s women’s football team, the reigning gold medalists from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, still have a chance to advance to the knockout stages. They need to win all three of their Group A matches and hope for favorable results in other games.

Canada secured a 2-1 victory against New Zealand on Thursday and are set to face the host nation, France, at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne on Sunday. Their final group match will be against Colombia at the Stade de Nice on Wednesday.

Assistant coach Andy Spence will lead the team for the remainder of the tournament, with Canada currently sitting on -3 points despite winning their opening match.

The CSA has the option to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).