Priestman, who arrived in France hoping to win her second gold medal as Canada's coach, will instead be suspended and face further disciplinary action. Assistant coach Andy Spence will replace her, the Canadian Olympic Committee said in a news release.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to light that drones have been used against opponents prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer Association CEO Kevin Blue said in a statement. “In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer Association has decided 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 investigation.”
The news release came shortly after a TSN story published alleging that staff and contractors from the Canadian women's and men's national teams had been attempting to film opponents' training sessions for several years.
In a conference call with reporters on Friday, Blue said Canadian players have not engaged in any unethical conduct and the team has no plans to withdraw from the Olympics. Blue added that he has received new information that leads him to believe the women's team's recent drone use was not an isolated incident. Blue acknowledged that the Canadian men's national team, which lost to Argentina in the semifinals earlier this month, “was aware of instances of attempted drone use at the Copa America.”
“The more I learn about this particular issue, the more concerned I become about the potential long-term and deeply ingrained organizational culture in which this sort of thing happens. This is clearly completely unacceptable.” Blue said, according to The Athletic..
Earlier this week, Priestman missed Thursday's women's Olympic opener and two of her staff members were ordered to return home after Canadian authorities learned that drones had been flown over two recent practices by New Zealand, Canada's next opponent. At the time, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker said Priestman “clarified” officials that she was unaware that recordings had been made of the Football Ferns' training session in Saint-Etienne, France, which Canada won 2-1 in Thursday's game. But at a press conference on Friday, Shoemaker said new information led him to believe that Priestman “likely knew about the incident here.”
The incident raises questions about whether Canada's national soccer program has encouraged such cover-ups before, including allegations that the Canadian men's national team used a drone to record a U.S. team practice before a match in Orlando in 2019. The U.S. team was coached by John Herdman from 2018 until August 2023, when he left to coach Toronto FC of MLS. He was eventually replaced permanently this spring by Jesse Marsch, who was praised for leading the team to the semifinals of the recently concluded Copa America.
Canada's men's and women's soccer teams have relied on drones and spies for years, sources say
Coaching staff and contractors working for Canada's men's and women's national soccer teams have been working on an effort to film the teams' closed-door training sessions for years. pic.twitter.com/GuwijxTMNm
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 25, 2024
Prior to taking charge of the men's team, Herdman coached the Canadian women's team from 2011 to 2018, during which time Priestman served as assistant and in other roles, and they also overlapped in the New Zealand national soccer program, as Herdman coached the New Zealand women's team from 2006 to 2011. Priestman, 38, and Herdman, 49, are both from Consett, a small town in northern England, and first met when Priestman was a youth soccer player.
A Toronto FC spokesman did not immediately respond to a request Thursday night for comment about Herdman. A U.S. Soccer spokesman said the association could not comment on reports about Priestman and the Canadian Soccer Association's use of drones.
The staff members ordered to return home this week by the Canadian Olympic Committee were assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Joseph Lombardi, 43, whom the committee described as a “non-official analyst” reporting to Mander.
According to a biography on the Canada Soccer Association's website, Lombardi, 43, appears to have held several more formal roles within the association, including as a member of the team staff for last year's Women's World Cup and six FIFA youth tournaments dating back to 2012. Lombardi was also named as a member of Priestman's staff in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news release earlier this month detailing the women's Olympic team, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Thursday.
It turns out the Canada Soccer “uncertified analyst” at the center of the Olympic drone furor is the organization's director of national youth programs and previously worked for the men's team head coach, John Herdman https://t.co/1FBB98F79T
— Thomas Daigle (@thomasdaigle) July 25, 2024
Lombardi, an analyst under Herdman from 2018 to 2019, matches the description of a Canadian national arrested by Saint-Etienne police on Monday for flying a drone over a stadium where the New Zealand women's national team was training. Authorities said in a statement that the man recorded footage of that day's training session and the Football Ferns' practice the previous Friday. The man reportedly told police he was an “independent sports analyst” working for the Canadian Soccer Association and that the recordings “gave him insight into the opposing team's tactics.”
The New Zealand Olympic Committee said on Tuesday it was “deeply shocked and disappointed by this incident,” after the Canadian committee later apologized and said in a similar statement that it “supports fair play.”
FIFA announced Wednesday that its disciplinary committee had “initiated proceedings” against Priestman, Lombardi, Mander and the Canadian Football Association.
In a statement released by the COC on Wednesday after Priestman withdrew from the match against New Zealand and before he was suspended and removed from the Olympic squad, she said the incident “does not reflect the values our team stands for.”
“I am ultimately responsible for the actions taken within our program,” Priestman added.
