The drone scandal surrounding Canada’s women’s soccer team, which led to the coach being fired on Thursday, was by no means a one-off incident and has also impacted the men’s team, according to a damning new report released Thursday.
In fact, this strategy has been around for years, including at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where the women’s team won the gold medal. TSN reported:.
The lengthy report, which cited two sources with direct knowledge of the situation, lists numerous examples and claims that those who challenged the operation were removed from roles in the program.
“In some scenarios, people are pressured to ‘give 110% and this is part of the job, if you’re not comfortable doing this you don’t have a place on the team,'” a source told the outlet. “It’s a very sensitive issue so it’s not talked about or even texted much. Some people who have had to film or review filming have spoken to a few staff members about how uncomfortable it was for them.”
Sources also told TSN that some staff and contractors were told their job descriptions included filming and that they could lose their jobs with the Canadian Soccer Federation if they did not film.
As a specific example of spying on opposing teams, the report cited a Canadian national team coach spying on closed-door training sessions of the Japanese women’s soccer team twice during the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.
The other incident reportedly occurred ahead of a women’s national team match against Panama in 2022, when the Canadian women’s national team was trying to qualify for the World Cup.
Panama filed a complaint with CONCACAF, the governing body for the Canadian Soccer Federation and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football, after Canadian contractors were spotted attempting to film a closed-door training session.
The outlet reported seeing text messages from the Canadian women’s national team coach discussing opponent filming practice ahead of 2022 matches against Costa Rica, South Korea and Trinidad.
2024 Paris Olympics
The report cites an example of men’s national soccer team officials using a drone to film a closed-door U.S. Soccer practice in Florida ahead of a Nov. 15, 2019, match that the U.S. won, 4-1.
“Most people see this as cheating, and it is,” one source said. “Some coaches see it as a competitive advantage and justify it by saying everyone does it, but that’s not true either. Not everyone cheats, and neither should we.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee fired women’s team coach Bev Priestman on Thursday amid fallout from its latest scandal, which found New Zealand women’s team officials using a drone to film private training sessions.
The highly publicized incident drew attention to the Canadian women’s national team and forced the Canadian Soccer Association to address the allegations head-on.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding the use of drones against opponents prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer Federation CEO and executive director Kevin Blue said in a statement.
“In light of these new revelations, the Canada Soccer Association has decided to suspend women’s national soccer team head coach Bev Priestman from her duties for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and until the completion of the recently announced independent, external investigation.”
