Bev Priestman will not return as head coach of Canada’s women’s national team after an independent investigation commissioned by the Canadian Soccer Association found she ordered staff to use drones to spy on opponents, a plan that culminated in a scandal. at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Priestman, as well as former assistant coaches Jasmine Minder and Joey Lombardi, have been serving a one-year ban since July, when the scandal broke shortly before the start of the women’s soccer competition. Canada Soccer said in a statement Tuesday that the search for a new head coach will begin soon.
The coach’s announcement was accompanied by the findings of the independent investigation by Sonia Regenbogen of Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark, LLP, which corroborated reports that personnel from the men’s and women’s national teams were involved in a spy operation that lasted years. The research focused on tournaments that took place in the last two years, although only the Paris Olympics and last summer’s Copa América were explicitly mentioned.
At the Olympics, investigators concluded that women’s national team staff spied on New Zealand on July 20 and 22. Several members of the coaching staff, whose names were withheld, watched footage from the first day, while video from the second day was eventually confiscated by local authorities after New Zealand alerted them. The investigator said the players never saw the images.
As for the Copa America, investigators revealed that an anonymous member of the men’s national team staff operated a drone to “inappropriately” record a training session in Orlando, Florida, likely before Canada’s game against Chile. The drone was detected by detection software at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and, although no recording was found, the problem was reported to CONMEBOL, who revoked that person’s credential and fined Canada Soccer. Investigators described it as “very different from what happened at the Olympic Games.”
The investigator also found that unspecified members of Canada Soccer staff organized a drone espionage scheme during an unnamed competition between June 2022 and March 2024. Notably, however, investigators said “no information was presented in investigation,” suggesting that the women’s national team team personnel used drones to spy on opponents during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when Canada won gold. However, that finding came with the caveat that “the investigation was not a full review of whether surreptitious surveillance was used at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.”
Several people did not participate in the investigation and most of their names were omitted. Former men’s and women’s national team coach John Herdman, who is reportedly the chief architect of Canada’s drone spy scheme, was unable to speak to investigators “due to scheduling conflicts,” though he is not necessarily blameless. . The findings revealed that Canada Soccer has already opened proceedings focusing on Herdman in regards to its disciplinary code.
When did the scandal start?
New Zealand defender Rebekah Stott noticed a drone flying over her training in Saint-Etienne, France, on July 19, six days before the opening day of the women’s soccer competition at the Paris Games. Stott, a drone fanatic, immediately alerted team personnel and they suspended training.
“We were doing throw-ins or something and I was waiting for Ali Riley to throw the ball to me and then I heard this noise,” Stott recalled on an episode of The Women’s Game podcast. “I’m a bit of a drone enthusiast, I have one myself, so I hear this noise and think, ‘Oh my God, is that a Mavic Pro?’ “Anyway, I looked to my left and sure enough, there was a fucking drone there. I turned to our coach and said, ‘Oh, there’s a drone.’ He went off and talked to our manager, who took care of security.”
The incident was reported to local authorities, who arrested Joseph Lombardi that same day. The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) identified him as “an unaccredited Canada Soccer analyst” in a statement on July 24, when the scandal broke, although the CBC reported that week that Lombardi was actually an official member of Canada’s coaching staff. Canada for the tournament. .
Lombardi was subsequently sent home, as was assistant coach Jasmine Mander. Canada women’s coach Bev Preistman said she would step back for the team’s game against New Zealand on July 25 “to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity.” However, hours before kick-off, Priestman was suspended by Canada Soccer after receiving new information showing the head coach played a major role in organizing the drone spy operation.
What punishment have they faced?
FIFA punished Canada with a six-point deduction during the group stage and a fine of $226,000. Priestman, Mander and Lombardi were suspended for one year. The Canadian Olympic Committee appealed the points deduction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but was unsuccessful. During the appeal process, it was revealed that Priestman argued that “the top 10 teams do it” in an email months earlier.
How long has Canada been spying on other teams?
As Tuesday’s findings demonstrate, drone espionage was not limited to the Paris Olympics or the women’s team. Herdman began implementing the approach during his time as coach of the women’s national team from 2011 to 2018, and the staff discussed the tactic as early as 2016 at the Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship. by TSN. He introduced the practice to Priestman, who coached the U-17 and U-20 women’s teams while Herdman was in charge of the senior team, and then continued to spy when he took over as head coach of the men’s team in 2018.
Notably, according to TSN, the women’s team used drones to spy on Japan during the pandemic-delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics, when Priestman was in charge. Canada won gold during that tournament, the only major title won by the senior men’s or women’s national teams. Players on the gold medal-winning team denied seeing drone footage during the competition. The independent investigators said they did not receive information about espionage during the Tokyo Games, but also admitted that was not necessarily a topic of investigation.
Herdman reportedly used drones to spy on Saint Kitts and Nevis in November 2018 and the US Soccer Federation was aware of Herdman’s tactics as early as January 2021, according to ESPN. Canada also used drones to spy on Honduras before a 2022 World Cup qualifying match in September 2021. Things continued even after Herdman left the job in August 2023, and Canada Soccer’s new CEO Kevin Blue admitted in July that the federation was “aware” of drone use during last summer’s Copa América. Blue said new head coach Jesse Marsch disapproved of the strategy and that’s why no one on the team ended up seeing the drone footage.
What’s next?
While FIFA quickly investigated Canada’s use of drones at the 2024 Olympics, it is unclear whether FIFA, Concacaf or other governing bodies will open investigations into the federation’s years-long spy tactic. Herdman remains a person of interest, especially as the independent investigators’ findings revealed that he is currently the subject of a disciplinary proceeding at Canada Soccer. Although the findings do not specify why the procedure was opened, he is said to have continued the practice of espionage since taking over at MLS’s Toronto FC. According to The Athletic, Herdman’s Toronto team used drones to spy on Forge FC of the Canadian Premier League in July before the semifinals of the Canadian Championship, a tournament under the purview of Canada Soccer.
