The Canadian women’s soccer team lost an appeal Wednesday of a six-point penalty for drone spying, setting up a must-win scenario for the defending gold-medal champions and deeply embarrassing Canadian soccer officials.
FIFA took action against Canada after French police caught a Canadian assistant coach using a drone to spy on a New Zealand practice last weekend. FIFA has revealed that head coach Bev Priestman sent an email acknowledging that she was aware of the practice and alleging that the men’s team does the same thing, suggesting that the scandal has yet to play out. Priestman has been suspended, and assistant coach Andy Spence has taken over temporarily.
Canada has acknowledged that drone spying was carried out at the recent Copa America but denied that the current men’s coach had advance knowledge of it. Questions have been raised about former men’s coach John Herdman, who has denied any involvement.
The scandal has been tough on the players, who thrilled Canadians in the last Olympics by winning their first gold medal in the sport and capping the career of legendary player Christine Sinclair. Sinclair has said that, during her career, players “were never shown or discussed drone footage.”
But Canada’s side did not let the difficult situation stop them from beating Colombia 1-0 on Wednesday, setting up a dramatic quarterfinal against Germany on Saturday.