The Canadian Olympic Committee has suspended women's soccer coach Bev Priestman after the Canadian Soccer Federation suspended her over a drone spying scandal that has put the team in a difficult position.
“Over the past 24 hours, we have received additional information regarding the use of a drone against competitors ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canadian Soccer Association CEO and general secretary Kevin Blow said in a statement.
“In light of this new information, the Canadian Soccer Association has made the decision to suspend women’s national team coach Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games pending the completion of the independent external investigation we recently announced,” he said in a statement.
The Canadian Olympic Committee said assistant coach Andy Spence will lead the 2020 Olympic gold medal-winning women’s team through the remainder of the Paris Games.
Canada beat New Zealand 2-1 in the women’s soccer opener at the Paris Games on Thursday, a match that Priestman voluntarily missed after the spying scandal broke this week.
Apology, scandal probe
A drone operated by a member of the Canadian women's soccer team disrupted a training session for the New Zealand team on Monday, just days before their opening match against the gold medalist team at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Priestman apologized to the New Zealand players for what happened and said she was ultimately responsible.
"This does not represent the values of our team. I am ultimately responsible for the conduct of our program," she said.
FIFA has launched disciplinary proceedings against the Canadian Soccer Association and Priestman, and two support staff members were expelled from the Paris Games this week over the scandal.
The Canadian Soccer Association said it would conduct an independent external investigation into the drone incident and the historical culture of competitive ethics across its programs.
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