The Canadian women’s soccer team faces a major distraction as it begins a quest to repeat as Olympic champions on Thursday.
Canada faces New Zealand at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT in the aftermath of a Canadian analyst being caught for using drones twice to spy on New Zealand practices.
FIFA said Wednesday its disciplinary committee has opened proceedings against Canada Soccer and three members of the women’s team’s staff.
In a press release Wednesday, FIFA said it is investigating head coach Bev Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi “due to the potential breach of article 13 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and article 6.1 of the Regulations Olympic Football Tournaments Games of the XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024.”
Mander and Lombardi were removed from the team’s staff, the Canadian Olympic Committee said earlier Wednesday in a statement in which it accepted head coach Priestman’s decision to not coach the opener in Saint-Etienne.
The International Olympic Committee also released a statement on Wednesday.
“The IOC welcomes the actions announced today by by the Canadian Olympic Committee following a drone incident which occurred earlier this week,” the IOC said in a statement, per Ben Steiner of CBC Olympics. “We expect all the teams to behave and compete with respect.”
The COC said Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst, reports to Mander.
CBC Olympics, per Devin Heroux, also obtained a copy of a Saint-Etienne prosecutor’s press release on Wednesday and translated it from French.
The release says a 43-year-old Canadian man arrested for flying a drone over a New Zealand practice told police he was using the footage to “learn the tactics of the opposing team.”
The COC later confirmed that man is Lombardi.
The prosecutor said the arrest was made Monday after a New Zealand team manager alerted the venue supervisor about a drone.
Analysis of the images by the prosecutor showed New Zealand players applying instructions given by their coach that day, as well as footage of training from two days earlier.
The prosecutor said an assistant coach to whom the arrested man reports to also was interviewed, but said she had nothing to do with the acts and was exonerated.
The man was arrested for maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area. The release says the man accepted a suspended sentence of eight months imprisonment in the presence of his lawyer.
Later on Wednesday, Canada Soccer announced it will proceed with an independent external review as their next step.
“This review will address the circumstances of the current matter, and more broadly, will seek to understand the historical culture of competitive ethics within all of [its]programs,” read a statement from Canada Soccer.
Additionally, in a press conference with Canadian Olympic Committee officials David Shoemaker, CEO and secretary general, and Eric Myles, chief sport officer, it was revealed that New Zealand Football asked that no points be awarded to Canada should they win Thursday’s opening Olympic match against the Football Ferns.
