Canada will now be without head coach Bev Priestman for the rest of the Paris Olympics.
Canada Soccer announced on Thursday that, after their 2-1 win over New Zealand to kick off the games earlier in the day, Priestman was being suspended and sent home from the Olympics in the wake of their drone spying scandal. Assistant coach Andy Spence will serve as the team’s interim coach throughout the rest of the Olympics.
Though a Canada soccer staffer was caught flying a drone over New Zealand training earlier this week in France, which is what sparked the scandal, the issue has apparently been going on for quite some time. According to TSN, both the men’s and women’s national teams have “relied on drones and spying for years.” They even apparently used them to film closed door training sessions of opponents during their gold medal run in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said in a statement. “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.”
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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