Canada's head women's national team coach Bev Priestman has been removed from the country's Olympic soccer team due to a scandal involving the use of drones to spy on opponents' practices, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced Thursday.
The COC said it made the decision after the Canadian Soccer Federation decided to suspend Priestman for the remainder of the tournament. The episode began earlier this week when Canada's opening opponent, New Zealand, complained to the International Olympic Committee's integrity unit after it said drones had been flown during practice sessions behind closed doors.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee has removed Canada Women's National Soccer Team Head Coach Bev Priestman from the Canadian Olympic Team due to her suspension by the Canadian Soccer Federation,” the COC statement read. “Assistant Coach Andy Spence will lead the Women's National Soccer Team for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
The announcement followed a TSN report that Canada's men's and women's soccer teams have used drones to record opponents' closed-door training sessions for several years, including during the Tokyo Olympic tournament, where the women's team won the gold medal in 2021.
“In the past 24 hours, we have received additional information regarding the past use of drones against opponents, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer CEO and General Secretary Kevin Blue said in a statement.
“In light of these new revelations, the Canadian Soccer Federation has made the decision to suspend the head coach of the Canadian Women's National Soccer Team, Bev Priestman, for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and until our recently announced independent external review is completed.”
As a result of the initial complaint, two staff members (assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi) were sent home from the Olympics.
On Thursday, Canada beat New Zealand 2-1 in its opening game of the Olympics. Canada played the opening game without coach Priestman, who stepped down from the team to demonstrate his responsibility.
However, during Wednesday's practice he remained adamant that he had no knowledge of using the drone.
Priestman had agreed to a contract in late January to coach Canada through the 2027 Women's World Cup.
Priestman was hired in November 2020 to succeed Kenneth Heiner-Møller and had been working on a rolling contract. She led Canada to a gold medal at the 2021 Olympics, but was eliminated in the group stage of last year's World Cup. She has coached the team to 28 wins, nine losses and 10 draws.
Priestman spent five years with the Canadian Soccer Association, serving in a variety of coaching roles before returning to her native England in June 2018, where she served as head coach of the U-18 women's team and assistant coach of the senior women's team. Prior to that, she worked for four and a half years as director of soccer development in New Zealand before leaving in June 2013.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
