Canada drone scandal extends far beyond Olympics

Canada women's soccer was on top of the world after winning the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The reigning gold medalist entered the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris as the No. 8 team in the world, but a scandal has suddenly unraveled the decorated national team.

New Zealand, a team that is ranked No. 28 and has won just two Olympic matches in its history, made accusations of Canada spying on their practices last Monday. New Zealand staff members spotted a drone surveying their practice ahead of their Olympic opener versus Canada last Thursday.

An investigation revealed that Team Canada was responsible for flying the drone and was using it to gather intel on New Zealand ahead of their matchup. Initially, two members of Team Canada's coaching staff — non-accredited Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi, who operated the drone, and Jasmine Mander, the assistant coach who oversaw Lombardi — were removed from the team and sent back to Canada.

The scandal has continued to worsen for Canada as FIFA, the global soccer governing body, began investigated the matter. Canada women's soccer head coach Bev Priestman was fired from her position and sent home shortly after once her involvement in the scandal came to light, but the cheating could be widespread.

Drone scandal continues to worsen for Canada Soccer

Canada Soccer CEO and general secretary Kevin Blue addressed reporters on Friday and indicated that this was not an isolated incident but a long-standing pattern that extends across both the women's and men's national teams.

“The more I learn about this specific matter, the more concerned I get about a potential long-term, deeply embedded systemic culture of this type of thing occurring, which is obviously completely unacceptable,” Blue said, h/t The Athletic. “I’ve been receiving a lot of anecdotal feedback about the history of the issue as it relates to both programs, as it relates to the current situation on the men’s team."

Blue added that the men's national team coach Jesse Marsch was made aware of an attempted use of a drone at Copa America and denounced drone usage to his coaching staff.

"I’m aware of an instance of attempted drone usage during Copa America," Blue said. "My current understanding is that the fact pattern of that instance is significantly different than what occurred here, especially as it relates to the potential impact on competitive integrity.”

Blue insisted that the players themselves were not involved in any unethical behavior and that the organization wants to make sure the team can compete in the 2024 Olympic Games "without any potential questions after the fact about their achievement."

Blue also said Canada Soccer would launch an independent external review about the drone incident and the historical culture of competitive ethics throughout all of its programs.

On Saturday, FIFA issued their own sanctions for the incident, which includes a $226,000 fine for Canada Soccer and a one-year ban for the three individuals involved from all soccer-related activities.

Canada Soccer announced they were exploring their options to appeal the points deduction.