It may have been a different kind of football, but the same type of scandal followed some 17 years later.
Two coaches of the Canadian women’s soccer team have been removed from the organization after two separate incidents involving drones flying during New Zealand training sessions ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Canadian Olympic Committee announced Wednesday morning that Team Canada soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander will not be part of the staff during Olympic competition, and head coach Bev Priestman will voluntarily not coach in the team’s opener against New Zealand on Thursday.
“On behalf of the team, I would like to apologize first to the players and staff of New Zealand Soccer and to the players on Team Canada,” Priestman said in a statement. “This does not reflect the values that our team stands for and I am ultimately responsible for the actions within our program. … I will act responsibly and with the interests of both teams in mind to ensure that everyone feels that the sportsmanship of the game is upheld.”
New Zealand team officials reportedly complained to the International Olympic Committee after realising Lombardi had been operating a drone to record or monitor the team’s training in Saint-Etienne on Monday.
2024 Paris Olympics
At that point, Lombardi was detained by French authorities.
The COC’s official statement also noted that a “second drone incident” occurred during training in New Zealand on July 19.
In addition to the disciplinary measures mentioned above, the COC stated that the Canadian team’s coaching staff will undergo “mandatory ethics training,” that an ongoing investigation is still ongoing in collaboration with FIFA, and that further penalties may be imposed.
The controversy evokes memories of “Spygate,” one of sports’ most infamous scandals in recent history.
During the 2007 NFL season, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was stripped of a first-round draft pick after it was revealed that the team had filmed a Jets coach’s defensive signals during a Week 1 game.
Canada, which won its first gold medal in 2020, will begin its defense against scandal-tainted and head-coachless New Zealand at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.
