Canadian head coach Bev Priestman has been suspended from her role for the rest of the Olympic Games as inquiries continue into the use of drones to snoop on rivals.
Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue released a statement saying:
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend women’s national soccer team head coach Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and until the completion of our recently announced independent external review.”
Assistant coach Andy Spence will take over for the rest of Canada’s games at the tournament in France.
Priestman, a former employee of NZ Football, had previously denied any involvement in the use of drones to record two training sessions by the Football Ferns in the lead-up to Friday’s games between the teams.
She had stood down for that match.
Two members of the Canadian coaching staff, Joe Lombardi and Justine Mander, were sent home for their parts in the use of drones.
Lombardi, who reports to Mander, was given an eight-month suspended jail sentence for flying an unmanned aircraft in regulated French airspace.
READ MORE: Coach steps down for match, two sent home in Olympic Games drone scandal >>>>
Meanwhile, Canada’s TSN site has reported claims that coaching staff and contractors have been engaged for years in efforts to film closed-door training sessions of their opponents, including the women’s gold-medal winning Olympic tournament in 2021.
The report quotes two sources who say they had direct knowledge of the use of covert filming.
“In a couple of scenarios, people have been pushed and have been told, ‘You have to give 110 percent and this is part of the job so if you don’t feel comfortable with doing this, you do not have a place on the team’,” one source told TSN.
Results
Games played on Friday July 26, 2024 (NZT)
Canada 2 (Cloe Lacasse 45+4′, Evelyne Viens 79′)
New Zealand 1 (Mackenzie Barry 13′)
France 3 (Marie-Antoinette Katoto 6′, 42, Kenza Dali 18′)
Colombia 2 (Manuela Pavi 64′, Catalina Usme 54′ pen)
Fixtures
Games to be played on Monday July 29, 2024 (NZT)
New Zealand v Colombia
Stade de Lyon, Décines-Charpieu, 3am (NZT)
France v Canada
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne, 7am (NZT)
Games to be played on Thursday August 1, 2024 (NZT)
New Zealand v France
Stade de Lyon, Décines-Charpieu, 7am (NZT)
Colombia v Canada
Stade de Nice, Nice, 7am (NZT)
This story was first published on July 26, 2024.
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