FIFA Disciplinary Committee opens proceedings vs. Canada Soccer, Priestman
Published
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened proceedings against Canada Soccer in the wake of the ongoing drone scandal involving the women's Olympic soccer team.
Head coach Beverly Priestman, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander could all face discipline "due to the potential breach of article 13 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and article 6.1 of the Regulations Olympic Football Tournaments Games of the XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024 - Final Competition."
The Disciplinary Committee said the matter will be submitted for the consideration of the Disciplinary Committee in the next days.
Mander, an assistant coach, and Lombardi, a Canada Soccer analyst, were sent home on Wednesday after two separate drone incidents, with reports indicating that drones flew over New Zealand's practice sessions both Monday and last Friday.
The Canadian Olympic Committee accepted Priestman's decision to remove herself from the sideline for the opening game against New Zealand, which will take place Thursday. Assistant Andy Spence will serve as Canada's head coach for Thursday's opening game.
Canada Soccer added on Wednesday that it will conduct an independent review of the incident.
"As the leaders of Canada Soccer, we want to express our unequivocal disapproval of the actions taken by members of our Women’s National Team staff at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games," President Peter Augruso and CEO/general secretary Kevin Blue said in a joint statement. "On behalf of our Federation, we offer our sincere apologies to the impacted players, coaches, and officials.
"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.
"As an immediate next step, Canada Soccer will proceed with an independent external review. This review will address the circumstances of the current matter, and more broadly, will seek to understand the historical culture of competitive ethics within all of our programs. The outcome of this review will be shared publicly and corrective actions, if necessary, will be taken.
"We will maintain prompt and transparent communication on this matter."
Priestman said Wednesday she was unsure whether the IOC or FIFA will put further sanctions on the team, but pushed to keep the focus on the current game ahead.
"Obviously, I've just literally stepped off the training pitch, I volunteered for me to step back before today, but I'm still learning, I'm straight off the pitch and whatever it is, again, I can only go on record and apologize on behalf of this team for this country," Priestman said. "But, this team is ready. Leadership moment for me to demonstrate the values and I also want to make sure this program doesn't let the COC, IOC and things down. [We're] being very cooperative and making sure that wasn't the case and I'd like to thank them for their support and just us being open and transparent offering what they needed to really investigate."