Canada loses appeal in drone spying scandal as new FIFA details emerge

The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday upheld the six-point deduction for the Canadian women’s soccer team from the Olympic tournament over a drone spying scandal, confirming FIFA’s decision to severely restrict the reigning gold medalist and raising sharp questions about tactics to secure a repeat.

The denial of Canada’s appeal came just hours before the full field of 12 teams across three divisions was set to compete in the final matches of the group stage. It was a defining moment, as four teams were set to be eliminated by Wednesday night.

It also came as FIFA released a full report of the findings that led to the decision to punish Canada for using a drone to watch New Zealand training ahead of their opening Olympic match. The report revealed a damning picture of Canada’s use of drones to monitor opposing training sessions.

Emails from Bev Priestman, the Canadian coach who was sent home from the Olympics after national officials tried to shield players from repercussions, allege regular spying in both men’s and women’s soccer. Priestman described it in one correspondence as something that “can mean the difference between winning and losing.”

An attorney for Priestman did not respond to a request for comment.

On the field, the immediate consequences were clear for Canada, who lost the honor of their first two Olympic victories and now need another victory to overtake Colombia and advance in the tournament. They are scheduled to play at 9 p.m. local time in Nice (3 p.m. ET).

Canada would be eliminated with a draw or loss, and must remain undefeated at the Paris Games to achieve a coveted repeat of the gold medal won at the Tokyo Games. This streak has also been called into question.

The CAS decision was also highly relevant for other teams, with France tied with Colombia at the top of Canada’s Group A going into Wednesday, and Australia and Brazil in third place in Groups B and C respectively. Only two of the three third-place finishes advance to the quarterfinals. The mathematics of a reversal or penalty reduction created dizzying combinations for who would advance and how they would strategize for Wednesday’s games, all depending on the decision of a CAS tribunal temporarily set up in Paris to hear Olympic cases.

CAS gave no reason for the resignations but acknowledged the urgency of the Games and said it would share more details about the decision later, without the immediate pressure of the tournament’s fallout.

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer sought to overturn FIFA’s ruling through CAS with their appeal. Canada Soccer said in a statement Wednesday that it was disappointed with the outcome but still believed “our players should not have been unduly penalized for actions that were not their own.” It added that an independent external investigation had been launched.

“Canada Soccer will continue to communicate regularly on this matter and take swift, decisive steps to restore public confidence,” the statement said.

In addition to the points deduction, FIFA suspended Priestman and two other team personnel for one year and fined them. Canada did not contest the suspensions.

On Wednesday, FIFA publicly shared emails between Priestman and an analyst who had concerns about spying on other teams, and between Priestman and a human resources representative discussing the analyst’s position.

In an email dated March 20, the performance analyst, whose name was redacted from the FIFA report, contacted Priestman about preparing for Olympic opponents. The email put on paper the analyst’s reluctance to scout other teams via drones.

“As discussed yesterday, regarding the ‘spying’ conversation, I came out of the meeting with the clear message that you understood my reasons for not wanting to continue with this in the future,” the analyst wrote.

The analyst listed reasons why he did not want to spy: “morally”, “my own reputation within the analysis field” and “potentially not being able to fulfil my role on a match day”.

The analyst confirmed that they would “have a conversation with Joey” (referring to Joseph Lombardi, who was also suspended by FIFA and was the analyst arrested by police for operating a drone during New Zealand training) and talk to the Canada Soccer technical team about “other solutions.”

The analyst asked Priestman not to ask again whether the analyst would “take on the role of ‘spy’ in the next camp and future camps.”

Priestman then emailed a representative from Canada Soccer’s human resources department for advice on “this formal email regarding spying,” saying it was a task the analyst performed regularly.

“I know there is a whole operation going on on the men’s side regarding this topic (we had (redacted) with us recently and he was excellent on this),” Priestman wrote.

Priestman noted that she had asked the analyst about alternatives to drone surveillance, “in terms of scouting it can be the difference between winning and losing and all the top 10 teams are doing it.”

The spying first came to light on July 22, when New Zealand team staff spotted a drone flying over their training ground in Saint-Étienne, France, and alerted police. Police traced the drone back to Lombardi, an analyst with the Canadian women’s team, and the Canadian Olympic Committee later acknowledged a separate drone incident during a New Zealand training ground on July 19.

FIFA’s decision related to Canada Soccer’s actions during the Olympics only leaving room for additional penalties for a broader spying system.

Before Priestman’s suspension by FIFA, she was suspended through the Olympics, and Canada Soccer said it was conducting a full investigation into both the men’s and women’s soccer programs. Priestman pledged to fully cooperate with that investigation in a statement Sunday, as she apologized to the Canadian players.

Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said that based on what he learned during the investigation, he was concerned that there was “a potential long-term, deeply ingrained systemic culture” of surveillance of other teams. Blue said he was aware of an attempt to use a drone during the men’s Copa America tournament, but he said current men’s coach Jesse Marsch was not aware of its use until after the fact.

Canada Soccer told FIFA on Saturday that Priestman’s allegations of espionage in the men’s program related to a specific individual. FIFA’s report did not name names but said it was “a practice started by one person — (redacted) — and continued by Bev Priestman. It was not facilitated by the federation.”

John Herdman, the current head coach of Toronto FC, was head coach of the women’s national team from 2011 to 2018 before taking over the men’s national team from 2018 to 2023. In a press conference last week, when asked about the Olympic drone scandal, he replied: “I will assist Canada Soccer where I can with that assessment, but I am very confident that in my time as head coach at an Olympic Games or World Cup, we have never been involved in any of those activities.”

FIFA noted in its report that it had reminded teams in June that drones should not be used for espionage during the Olympic Games.

FIFA concluded its report by noting that its scope was limited to the Paris Olympics, and that it was awaiting the findings of an internal investigation by Canada Soccer, “so that it can assess and decide whether further action by FIFA bodies is necessary and appropriate.”

Lukas Weese contributed to the reporting.

Required reading

(Photo: Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images)