Paris 2024: FIFA deducts 6 points, bans Canadian coaches

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). It also banned Canadian head coach Bev Priestman, 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.

Gold medal defense much less likely

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 women's Olympic football tournament. 

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

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 eight-month suspended sentence.

FIFA quicky 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," she said.

Canada Soccer had 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. It has also sent home Priestman and the other two staff members.

'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 2021.

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

Her view was shared by Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue, who spoke with reporters via videocall a few hours before the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

Asked by a reporter whether he had considered withdrawing Canada from the women's tournament over the scandal, he said this wouldn't have been fair to the players.

"I have not considered withdrawal of the team, primarily because we feel like we have addressed the situation swiftly and significantly," said Blue, who only took the job a few months ago.

He even went as far as to issue an appeal, which obviously fell on deaf ears, to the sport's governing body: "Frankly, we ask FIFA to take that into consideration if contemplating any further sanctions."

'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.

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