Beverley Priestman, the head coach of the Canadian women’s football team, has been removed from this year’s Paris Olympics, in the wake of the drone spying scandal. 

In a statement released on Friday morning (NZ time), Canada Soccer confirmed Priestman will be removed from the team environment, pending an external investigation. 

What’s more, Canada’s use of aerial drones to spy on opposition has been found to have predated this year’s Olympic Games. 

“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” it said. 

“In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend women’s national team head coach, Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and until the completion of our recently announced independent external review.” 

Canada are the reigning Olympic women’s football champions, after winning gold at Tokyo 2021. In the wake of the scandal, Canada defeated the Football Ferns 2-1 in their tournament opener on Friday morning. 

The New Zealand Olympic Committee lodged a complaint after staff from the Canadian squad were found to have flown a drone over Football Ferns training ahead of their match on 22 July. 

A further incident was also found to have happened on 19 July while the New Zealand women’s football team was training in St Etienne. Team Canada immediately acknowledged responsibility for the drone and released an apologetic statement. 

“The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair-play and we are shocked and disappointed. We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee,” the COC wrote in a statement. 

The Canadians had already sent home two staff members, analyst Joseph Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander. 

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Priestman yesterday acknowledged her responsibility for the affair. 

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologise to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada. This does not represent the values that our team stands for,” Priestman said. 

“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program. Accordingly, to emphasise our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday. In the spirit of accountability, I do this with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld.” 

The Canadian Olympic Committee said their staff will undergo mandatory ethics training. 

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