The 2024 Olympics in Paris haven’t even had an opening ceremony yet, and we’re already facing a potential cheating scandal.
According to a New Zealand media report, the New Zealand women’s national football team caught Canada using a drone to spy on the team’s training session on Monday in Saint-Etienne, the site of Thursday’s Group A match between the two teams.
French police were deployed to various training centres to monitor drones during team training sessions and spotted the drone during the Football Ferns’ session. Following the incident between Canada and New Zealand, a member of the Canadian team’s support staff was arrested by police.
The New Zealand women’s soccer team claims it was spied on during a training session in Saint-Étienne on Monday by Canada Soccer via drone surveillance.
They filed an official complaint with the IOC.
Canada will face New Zealand on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. ET. #Paris2024https://t.co/m4VSkbwCPG— Shireen Ahmed (@_shireenahmed_) July 23, 2024
New Zealand filed a formal complaint with the IOC integrity unit. Canada did not deny the accusation, accusing an “unaccredited” staff member of negligence with the drone. The Canadian Olympic Committee also apologized in its statement.
Canada, ranked 8th in the FIFA rankings, would have been considered the heavy favourites against New Zealand, ranked 28th. But it remains to be seen what sanctions, if any, will be taken against Canada when the group stages open.
Update: The Canadian Olympic Committee looked into the incident and found that another drone was used to spy on the July 19 training session in New Zealand.
Team Canada has sent home two members of its staff and Canadian women’s soccer head coach Bev Priestman will not participate in Thursday’s game. She issued a statement:
“On behalf of our entire team, I would first and foremost like to apologise to the players and staff of New Zealand Football and to the players of Team Canada. This does not represent the values our team stands for,” Priestman said. “I am solely responsible for the conduct within our program. Therefore, to underscore our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from training for Thursday’s match. In the spirit of responsibility, I do so with the best interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels the sporting spirit of this game is respected.”
Update: According to a new report from TSN’s Rick Westhead, Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have been using drones to spy on opposing programs for years, including during the women’s gold medal race at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have relied on drones and espionage for years, sources say
Coaching staffs and contractors working with Canada’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams have been working for years to film their teams’ closed-door training sessions. pic.twitter.com/GuwijxTMNm
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 25, 2024
As the fallout from the New Zealand drone saga continues, Canadian women’s team head coach Beverly Priestman has also been suspended from the Paris 2024 Olympics.
If this new report is to be believed, it’s clear that Canadian soccer is poised to face even more repercussions, especially if its gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics is called into question.
This article was originally published on For The Win: Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have reportedly been using spy drones for years