Drone scandal | Coach Bev Priestman fired by Canada Soccer

Heads are rolling at Canada Soccer. Head coach Bev Priestman and two other members of her staff were officially fired by the federation in the wake of the drone scandal.

On Tuesday, the organization unveiled the findings of the independent investigation into the use of aircraft to spy on adversaries. Bev Priestman, Jasmine Mander and Joey Lombardi were suspended for a year by FIFA after the latter two were caught red-handed, or rather with a drone in the air, at the Paris Olympics last summer.

The search for a new head coach will begin shortly, adds Canada Soccer in its Tuesday announcement.

Among the conclusions of the report led by investigator Sonia Regenbogen, it is confirmed that “two of the coaches of the women’s national team directed, approved and condoned the actions taken by a third member of the coaching staff […] to film the training of an opposing team” at the Olympics.

The news came out on July 25, just before the Canadian women’s team’s first meeting against New Zealand in Saint-Étienne, a match they won 2-1. Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst, as well as Mander, an assistant to Priestman, had used a drone to spy on the New Zealanders’ training sessions on July 20 and 22.

Bev Priestman withdrew of her own accord from the first match, before her suspension. The team was knocked off six points in the standings, but managed to advance to the quarter-finals by winning all of their group matches. Canada Soccer was fined $312,000. Lombardi was sentenced to eight months in prison, since it was prohibited to fly a drone in this restricted airspace in Saint-Étienne.

The images captured by drone “were not viewed by the players of the women’s national team”, it is specified in the report unveiled on Tuesday.

Also note that the names of Priestman, Mander and Lombardi are redacted in the document for legal reasons, and in the context of a human resources investigation.

John Herdman also targeted

Last summer, reports from various media then demonstrated that the use of drones to spy on opponents’ training was not an unknown practice within Canadian soccer. John Herdman, the former coach of the men’s team, is said to have been the instigator while he was at the helm of the women’s team between 2011 and 2018. He is now head coach of Toronto FC.

The investigation half-heartedly confirms these facts. “Possible violations of the Code of Conduct and Ethics […] by the former head coach of the men’s national team have been identified”, it is said, adding that “disciplinary procedures have been launched to rule on these possible violations”. Herdman was invited by Sonia Regenbogen to participate in the investigation, but “due to scheduling problems” the two parties were unable to find a time to meet.

The matter is not over for the former figurehead of the country’s men’s and women’s teams: Herdman will most likely “conduct additional interviews regarding this matter.”

It also states that deputies and staff members “did not feel comfortable” with drone spying, but that they “did not feel in a position to question the authority” of the drone. head coach.

“Two of the coaches of the women’s national team directed inappropriate observation actions before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games”, judges the investigation, but reports that “no evidence” indicates the use of drones at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. “Probably due to the very restrictive nature of the containment measures that were in place in relation to COVID-19,” we clarify.

The women’s team won gold at the Tokyo Games.

No drones under Marsch

Finally, the investigation shows that there was indeed no drone spying at the 2024 Copa América, in which Jesse Marsch’s men’s selection took part. But one of these machines did indeed fly over a training field at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, base camp of the Canadian team. It is explained that this aircraft was flown for the simple purpose of filming promotional images over an empty field. CONMEBOL, which governs South American competitions and federations, initiated disciplinary proceedings against Canada Soccer, then ended up revoking the accreditation of the person concerned. A fine of $3,000 was imposed on the Canadian federation.

“The investigator concluded that there was no clandestine surveillance and that this incident was very different from what happened at the Olympic Games,” the report states.

Sonia Regenbogen also concludes that “at present”, the men’s team “does not engage in clandestine surveillance”. Furthermore, she believes that the current coach, Jesse Marsch, does not approve of the use of drones to spy on his team’s opponents. “He made it known that the practices that may have existed under the leadership of Herdman […] did not continue under his. »

Both general secretary and CEO Kevin Blue and president Peter Augruso emphasize that they do not “condon the use of drones” to spy on national team opponents.

“Unacceptable culture”

Now, Canada Soccer wants to make “organizational changes,” some of which are already underway.

The federation wishes in particular to “contractually oblige” its employees to “report unethical behavior”, using new software allowing them to do so confidentially. It also lists a certain number of commitments to clean up its administrative and sporting management, including ethical training for coaches and staff.

“The findings of the independent investigator reveal that the drone incident in Paris was a symptom of a past trend of unacceptable culture and insufficient supervision within national teams,” Blue said. This is no longer part of our activities. »

Canada Soccer is committed to “implementing necessary changes to [s’] improve in all respects, and to do so urgently,” he said.