Olympics: Canada women's team docked 6 points, stay alive

Football's world governing body FIFA, which operates both the women's and men's Olympic tournaments, announced the sanctions in a statement released on Saturday evening Paris time.

FIFA said that in addition to deducting the six points from the defending gold medalists from the Tokyo Olympic Games, it was fining Canada Soccer 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,000, €246,000). It also banned Canadian head coach Bev Priestman and assistant coach Jasmine Mander, as well as analyst Joseph Lombardi, from all football-related activities for a period of one year.

Barring the Canadian women's team staff members will have no practical impact on the tournament, as all three had already been sent home by Canada Soccer.

'Violation of the principles of fair play'

The decision came unusually quickly, as FIFA had fast-tracked its own disciplinary process by asking its appeals judges to handle the case.

The FIFA judges found that Priestman and her two assistants were "responsible for offensive behavior and violation of the principles of fair play."

It also found that Canada Soccer was "responsible for failing to respect the applicable FIFA regulations in connection with ... the prohibition on flying drones over any training sites."

Both the coaches and Canada Soccer could challenge their sanctions at the Court of Arbitration for Sport's special Olympic court in Paris. That tribunal has been set up for urgent hearings and verdicts at the Paris Olympics.

Canada considering appeal

After the FIFA decision was announced, David Shoemaker, the head of the Canadian Olympic Committee, said the COC in "support of the athletes and together with Canada Soccer" was "exploring rights of appeal related to the six point deduction at this Olympic tournament."

Canada Soccer boss Kevin Blue said they believed that the FIFA sanctions were "excessively punitive towards our Women's National Team players — who were not involved in any unethical behaviour (sic)."

What the ruling means for Canada's gold medal defense

The decision is a major blow to Canada's hopes of defending the gold medal it won three years ago by beating Sweden in a penalty shootout in the final of the women's Olympic football tournament. 

The six-point deduction meant that despite beating New Zealand 2-1 in their first match of the Paris Games last Thursday, Canada went into their second game against hosts France on Sunday with minus three points. This meant Canada would likely have to beat both France and Colombia next Wednesday to stand any chance of advancing from Group A. 

However, the Canadians pulled off an upset over the hosts in Saint-Etienne, beating France 2-1 on a Vanessa Gilles goal in the 12th minute of stoppage time.  

Drone spotted by New Zealand staff

Canada's woes began after two members of New Zealand's support team spotted a drone flying over one of their training sessions ahead of their first Group A match — and notified police.

Police then arrested Lombardi, the analyst with the Canadian team, and charged him with maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area. Lombardi confessed and was handed an 8-month suspended sentence.

FIFA quickly announced an investigation into the matter.

Priestman withdraws from New Zealand match

Canadian head coach Priestman, who had previously worked as a coach for New Zealand Football, apologized to New Zealand's players and announced she would not be on the touchline for Thursday's match.

"This does not represent the values that our team stands for," she said. "I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program."

Canada Soccer said on Wednesday that it would launch an independent external review about the drone incident — as well as the historical culture of competitive ethics throughout all of its programs.

'We are not cheats'

Canadian players have expressed deep disappointment at the turn of events.

Defender Vanessa Gilles described the affair as a "humiliation" for the gold medalists from Tokyo 2020.

"As a Canadian, these are not our values," she said. "We are not cheats."

'Attempted drone usage' at Copa America

As bad as the worsening scandal is for the Canadians, there could be more to come. Blue revealed that he had received "additional information … predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games," which included "attempted drone usage" by the Canadian men's team at this summer's Copa America.

He said new Canadian men's coach Jesse Marsch had been made aware of this after the fact and had "denounced it as a practice to his staff."

Meanwhile, Canadian sports network TSN has cited two unnamed sources with "first-hand knowledge" as saying the women's staff also filmed other opponents' closed-door training sessions, including during the Olympic tournament in 2021.

Government funding was partially suspended

In response to what some in Canada are referring to as "Dronegate," the country's minister of sport and physical activity, Carla Qualtrough, issued a statement on Sunday saying the government was withdrawing some funding from Canada Soccer.

"Using a drone to surveil another team during a closed practice is cheating. It is completely unfair to Canadian players and to opposing teams. It undermines the integrity of the game itself," she said.

"Given that the Women's Program receives funding from Sport Canada, we are withholding funding relating to suspended Canada Soccer officials for the duration of their FIFA sanction."

The affair comes at a time when FIFA is presumably observing Canada Soccer's actions with heightened interest, as it is slated to co-host the men's World Cup with the United States and Mexico in 2026.

Edited by: Kate Hairsine

This article was originally published on July 27. It was updated on July 28 to reflect the Candian Olympic Committee's statement on a possible appeal and the decision of the sports ministry to partially suspend funding to Canada Soccer.