Heads are rolling at Canada Soccer. Head coach Bev Priestman, along with two other members of her staff, were officially fired by the federation following the unveiling of the findings of the independent investigation into the use of drones to spy on their opponents.
Posted at 3:10 p.m.
Updated at 3:39 p.m.
Priestman, Jasmine Mander and Joey Lombardi were suspended a year after the latter two were caught red-handed, or rather with their drone in the air, at the Paris Games last summer.
The search for a new head coach will begin shortly, adds Canada Soccer in its Tuesday announcement.
Among the findings of the report, 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.
It was July 25, just before the Canadian women’s team’s first match against New Zealand, in Saint-Étienne, a match they won 2-1. Joey Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst, as well as Jasmine Mander, an assistant to Priestman, had used a drone to spy on the New Zealanders’ training.
Bev Priestman withdrew from the first match, and was subsequently suspended for 12 months by the Canadian federation. The team had been deducted six points in the standings, but managed to advance to the quarter-finals by winning all their group matches.
The images captured by drone “were not viewed by the players of the women’s national team,” the report states.
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”.
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 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.
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.
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. These two leaders arrived in office in the last year, and have made transparency their hobby horse.
More details will follow.
