Olympic football: Canada’s coaching staff ‘opposed’ to flying drones before Paris 2024

Members of Canada’s women’s coaching staff “objected” to requests to fly drones over opposition training in the two years before the scandal that hit the team at Paris 2024.

An independent external investigation into the illegal use of drones, commissioned by Canada Soccer, found that a coach raised concerns “several times” between 2022 and 2024.

Two members of Canada’s coaching staff were sent home during the Olympics for flying a drone over training by New Zealand, their opponent in a group stage match, while national team coach Beverly Priestman she was removed from her duties.

Priestman was suspended by Canada Soccer shortly after the incident and the governing body said Tuesday that the 38-year-old Englishwoman will not return to the role.

“The search for a new coach for the women’s national team will begin shortly,” he said in a statement.

The names of those who raised the objections have been removed from the transcripts published as part of the findings, to comply with privacy laws and confidentiality commitments.

The report concluded that none of the players on Canada’s women’s national team saw the drone footage.

Two of the women’s team coaches “conducted acts of improper surveillance ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics,” but “no evidence was found” that they took place at the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Games, where Canada won gold.

The investigation, conducted by Sonia Regenbogen of law firm Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark, has led Canada Soccer to promise operational and structural changes.

These include contractually mandated reporting of unethical behavior and new software to facilitate confidential reporting, as well as education on Canada Soccer’s code of conduct and ethics.

Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue said: “The independent investigator’s findings reveal that the drone incident in Paris was symptomatic of a past pattern of an unacceptable culture and insufficient oversight within national teams.

“We are working to build Canada Soccer into a federation that Canadians trust and are proud of, and that is not defined by unfortunate actions of the past.”