FIFA announced Saturday that it has suspended Canada's women's national soccer team coach, Bev Priestman, for one year after it was found that a drone was used to spy on Olympic opponents New Zealand.
Team Canada will also be docked six points in the Olympic soccer standings and cannot earn more than three points in the group stage, according to Sky News' Rob Harris.
Harris added that Priestman had also been fined 200,000 Swiss francs.
FIFA released the following statement about the sanctions: “The referees were found responsible for aggressive behaviour and violations of the principles of fair play in relation to the use of a drone by the CSA Women's National Team.”
According to ESPN, the New Zealand women's soccer team notified the International Olympic Committee's integrity department that a drone was flying over a closed-door training session earlier this week.
TSN's Rick Westhead later reported that Canada's women's and men's soccer teams had been illegally using drones to film opposing teams' private training sessions “for several years.”
This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.
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