We didn’t even get to see the opening ceremony before a spy scandal rocked the Paris 2024 Olympics.
A Canadian soccer staff member was caught flying a drone over New Zealand practice earlier this week in France ahead of Thursday’s group stage match. The employee was arrested and eventually sent home after French police searched his hotel room and recovered drone footage.
This has of course given rise to multiple investigations.
While there are still many questions to be answered, here’s everything we know so far about the Canadian football spying scandal in Paris.
July 20: New Zealand trains at Stade Michon in Saint-Etienne
New Zealand began training in France on Saturday ahead of the Olympic Games.
The local prosecutor’s office said an official at the Olympic training site informed police that a drone was flying over the Auguste Dury stadium on Monday. The New Zealand team manager informed the official of the drone’s presence and immediately interrupted the training session.
Police then arrested Joseph Lombardi, 43, an “unaccredited analyst” for the Canadian women’s soccer team, who was operating the drone and filming the closed-door training session. Lombard’s hotel room was searched and the drone was seized. He admitted that the videos of two closed-door training sessions (including one on July 20) “allowed him to learn the opposing team’s tactics.”
Lombardi was charged with operating an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area and received an eight-month suspended sentence. Assistant coach Jasmine Mander was questioned and not charged.
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The COC released a statement saying it had been informed that an unaccredited member of Canada Soccer’s support team had been detained by French authorities after New Zealand filed its complaint.
The complaint states that a Canada Soccer staff member used a drone to record the New Zealand women’s team’s training session on July 22.
The COC offered its “sincere apologies” to the New Zealand players and said it would consider next steps with the IOC, Paris 2024, Canada Soccer and FIFA.
July 24: Canada head coach Bev Priestman withdraws from opening match
Following the COC’s review of the drone incident, they discovered a second incident involving a drone and the July 19 training session in New Zealand.
After learning of these new details, two staff members — Lombardi and Mander — were removed from the Canadian Olympic team and sent home immediately.
Canada’s women’s team head coach Bev Priestman has told the COC she will step down for the team’s Olympic opener against New Zealand on July 25.
“On behalf of our entire team, I would first and foremost like to apologize to the players and staff of New Zealand Football and the players of Team Canada. This does not represent the values our team stands for,” Priestman said in a statement. “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.”
Canada Soccer staff were also required to complete mandatory ethics training.
July 25: Canada-New Zealand match
With Priestman back at the team hotel and assistant coach Andy Spence in charge, Canada cruised to a 2-1 victory over New Zealand on Thursday in its first group-stage match at the Olympics.
Cloé Lacasse scored the Canadians’ first goal in overtime just before halftime, tying the score after Mackenzie Barry scored in the opening minutes for New Zealand. Interestingly, Barry’s goal came on a set piece. Canadian Evelyne Viens then scored in the 79th minute to give Canada the lead and eventually the win.
The win gave Canada three points in Group A, tying them with France at the top of the group. France beat Colombia in its first group match 3-2 on Thursday.
Canada and France will face each other on Sunday.
July 25: Canada suspends and sends home coach Bev Priestman
Shortly after the win over New Zealand, Canada Soccer announced it was suspending Preistman for the remainder of the Games. Priestman was subsequently sent home and Spence was named interim coach of the team.
The announcement came as a TSN report claimed that spying had been a phenomenon that had been occurring for years within the men’s and women’s national teams. The women’s team even allegedly used drones to spy on their opponents during the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — where they won the gold medal — and the following year as they attempted to qualify for the Women’s World Cup.