COC removes head coach Priestman from team amid drone spying scandal

PARIS — Bev Priestman's time at the Paris Olympics ended before the opening ceremony.

Canada Soccer has suspended its women's national team head coach for the remainder of the Games amid a drone spying scandal.

The Canadian Olympic Committee added in a statement released shortly before 1:30 a.m. local time Friday that assistant Andy Spence will lead the defending gold medallists for the remainder of the tournament.

Canada's camp was thrown into disarray this week when two team staffers were sent home for allegedly using a drone to spy on New Zealand's practices.

Priestman denied any involvement, but didn't attend Thursday's 2-1 victory over New Zealand in Saint-Etienne as FIFA — soccer's world governing body — and the International Olympic Committee investigate.

TSN Senior Correspondent Rick Westhead reported Thursday evening that, according to sources, coaching staff and contractors working with Canada’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams have been engaged for years in efforts to film the closed-door training sessions of their opponents, including during the women’s gold-medal winning Olympic tournament in 2021.

Canada Soccer CEO and general secretary Kevin Blue said in the COC release announcing Priestman's removal that "additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."

He added Priestman is suspended from her duties until the end of the tournament — and the completion of the organization's independent external review.

Things started to unravel for Canada when New Zealand's Olympic Committee complained to the IOC's integrity unit after it said drones were flown over a pair of pre-tournament practice sessions this week.

The COC said Wednesday that assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi were "sent home immediately" and that it had accepted Priestman's decision to remove herself from coaching the opening match.

Priestman, who took over the Canadian women on Nov. 1, 2020, signed a contract extension through the 2027 Women's World Cup back in January after previously working on a rolling contract.

She held a brief media availability Wednesday with reporters at Stade Auguste Dury after guiding her squad through a one-hour practice.

"My reaction was you feel like this program has let the country down," Priestman said. "That's why I took the proactive step to do what I felt was the right thing. Irrespective of the details, I'm ultimately accountable."

FIFA said its disciplinary committee has opened proceedings against all three individuals and Canada Soccer.

Priestman, 38, was an assistant under women's national team head coach and current Toronto FC boss John Herdman. She also worked with Herdman when he led New Zealand's women's program.

No. 8 Canada will meet second-ranked France on Sunday in Saint-Etienne before facing Colombia on Wednesday in Nice.

COC chief executive officer David Shoemaker said during a video call Wednesday the organization believed the sanctions handed out to that point were appropriate and "at least mitigate any advantage Canada may have had or be seen to have had against New Zealand."

Shoemaker added at the time further repercussions for Priestman had been considered.

"At the end of the day, the drone footage … remained in the hands of the pilot of the drone, and the advantage that I guess was intended to be obtained was not obtained, at least to the best of our ability to ascertain," he said.

"I was persuaded by the fact that Bev Priestman had no involvement, no knowledge in the incident. Those who had the direct involvement in the incident we removed from Team Canada."

Shoemaker said on the call he believed Priestman wasn't involved based on her denial.

"(It's) my assessment of the veracity of those statements," he said. "If facts were to arise in the future suggesting otherwise, I guess we reserve the right to impose further sanctions."

That is exactly what happened early Friday in Paris.

-With files from Gregory Strong in Saint-Etienne, France.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2024.