Canada women’s soccer coach ‘approved’ illegal filming

Canadian women’s soccer team coach Bev Priestman will not be back after an independent report into the drone spying scandal at the 2024 Summer Olympics found that Priestman and an assistant coach “directed, approved and condoned” the actions used to film opposing teams’ training sessions. 

Canada Soccer revealed the findings of the report on Tuesday, which came to the conclusion that the use of drones to film other teams was a “symptom” of an “unacceptable past culture within the national teams.”

“Quite simply, while players on the national teams performed admirably, cultural standards and management of the programs dating back several years fell short of expectations,” Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue and President Peter Augruso said.

As part of the release of the redacted findings, Canada Soccer said Priestman and two other team officials would not return to coach. 

Priestman, along with the other two, had been suspended for one year from any soccer-related activities by FIFA over the scandal, which first came to light when New Zealand made a complaint that a Canadian staffer had flew a drone over their closed practice session. 

Assistant coach Joey Lombardi had been apprehended by French police flying the drone over the New Zeland practice. 

The inquiry report found that the drone footage shot ahead of Canada’s Olympic match with New Zealand had not been viewed by national team players. 

A statement from Canada Soccer stated that the spying had predated the 2024 Paris Olympics, TSN reported.  

Canada Soccer has also “initiated a proceeding” involving former Canada women’s and men’s head coach John Herdman over potential violations of their code of conduct and ethics. 

He coached the women’s side from 2011-18 and the men’s squad from 18-23. 

Herdman had not been interviewed during the inquiry due to timing conflicts. 

“It’s something that [lawyer Sonia Regenbogen] and John’s representatives worked on, and I don’t really have visibility into the specific situations as to why,” Blue told TSN. “There was evidence gathered from witness statements and documentary review, as far as I understand, in the absence of a direct interview.”