Have you ever experienced the eerie feeling of being constantly watched? Well, the New Zealand women’s soccer team went through something similar on July 22nd. During a practice session at Saint-Etienne, they experienced an odd disruption. Several members of the team noticed an unmarked drone making the rounds days before the 2024 Paris Olympics commences on July 26th. Unsure of who the drone belonged to, New Zealand’s Olympic Committee (NZOC) promptly reported the incident to the police. If this wasn’t odd enough, upon investigating, the police found that the drone belonged to a support staff member on the Canadian women’s soccer team.

Team New Zealand was preparing to face off against Team Canada on July 25 for the Group A match. NZOC also formally lodged a complaint with the IOC integrity unit, leading to an apology from Team Canada. The news broke out on X, captioned, “The New Zealand Olympic Committee announced a statement around 1:00am ET.” Now, with just 2 days away from the upcoming Summer Games, Bev Priestman has stepped down from coaching their first match on July 25th. What really went down on Monday?

New Zealand’s women’s soccer team had a case of the Monday Blues at the Paris Olympics

Team New Zealand was preparing for their first match in Paris. During their practice session on Monday, team support members noticed an unidentified drone scoping the field. After lodging a complaint with the local police, a support staff member of Team Canada was eventually detained. The NCOZ wanted to support their wider staff and team before the Summer Games commenced. As the incident came to light, Team Canada issued an apology and started their investigation to get to the bottom of it.

Upon the COC’s investigation, new information has come to light. In a statement released on July 24th, they promptly removed Joseph Lombardi, Canada Soccer’s unaccredited analyst. Along with him, assistant coach Jasmine Mander will also be making her way back to Canada immediately. Amidst the investigation, Team Canada’s coach, Bev Priestman, decided to step down from her role for the opening game, and the COC has accepted her decision to do so.

The decision led to three integral members promptly being removed from the Paris Olympics crew. But Team Canada still has GK coach Jen Herst and assistant coaches Neil Wood and Andy Spence by their side. However, the defending champions have a lot at stake considering a terrible result at the 2023 World Cup and their inability to win the Concacaf competition this year. It doesn’t help that this wasn’t a one-time thing. Reportedly, the drone was flown over Team NZ’s practice once before the July 22 incident; the first time it was done so was on July 19.

The COC also stated that they are consistently keeping in touch with FIFA and the IOC. They will continue to review the incident to ensure that no further necessary actions are required. “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.” Priestman and three other members of the team will be speaking to the media after their training session in Saint-Etienne.

This unfortunate incident also caught the eye of Canada’s Minister of Sport, Carla Qualtrough. The former Paralympic swimmer understands how important the spirit of the Summer Games is. “When rules are broken, there must be consequences,” she stated on X. Qualtrough supports the decisions made by the COC, the apology issued, and Bev Priestman’s withdrawal as head coach at the opening match against New Zealand. Priestman herself came out with a statement of apology shortly after.

Bev Priestman’s shocking departure days before the Paris Olympics commence

The investigation by COC brought on several sanctions. One of them included Bev Priestman stepping down as head coach of the reigning Olympic champions for the opening day; her decision for the days leading up to their future games remains unclear as of now. The committee did not state whether Priestman knew of the incident or not. Regardless, she has promptly taken responsibility for the wrongdoing on her team’s behalf. “On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologize to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada,” the coach stated.

“This does not represent the values that our team stands for. I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program.” Priestman expresses how the team prioritizes integrity and keeping the drone incident in mind. She announced her withdrawal from the match taking place on Thursday, believing this would ensure that the Paris Olympics game’s sportsmanship continues to remain unhindered.

After Team Canada’s practice session concluded at Saint-Etienne, the coach decided to speak to the press about the situation, holding herself personally accountable for the lack of morale that was displayed through the action. “I’m ultimately accountable. That’s why personally, it was really important to me to take this moment to show strong leadership and to represent the values of this country, of the team, and of myself.” She took this opportunity to reiterate that the CanWNT values respect, hard work, humility, and passion. Keeping all of this in mind, she agrees that the drone incident was poor judgment, though further investigations revealed that the Canadian team itself did not play any part in the spying.

Investigations bring more information to light

As soon as Team New Zealand alerted the local authorities, they promptly arrested a 43-year-old Canadian and proceeded to confiscate several devices and the drone from the individual’s hotel room. He was soon placed in police custody. According to a press release from a Saint-Etienne prosecutor, during the interrogation, he confessed that he was a sports coach for several youth soccer teams in Canada. However, his presence in France was purely coincidental since he was representing the Canadian Football Association as an independent sports analyst at the Paris Olympics.

Even though he admitted to the acts committed on July 22, a thorough investigation brought out images from the previous incident too. What images did the sports analyst capture? It was evident that he was trying to extract information on the tactics they could possibly put to use in their first game against New Zealand. The local authorities detained him further, hoping he would eventually come clean. The individual later admitted that he was trying to decipher their strategy and give the Canadian team an upper hand.

After his confession, he was then tried under the Appearance on Recognition of Guilt procedure before being referred to the public prosecutor’s office. What was the outcome? Maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area is a punishable offense. Since he was proven guilty, the 43-year-old was then charged with a € 45,000 fine and a maximum sentence of one year in imprisonment. However, during the proceedings, he was offered a suspended sentence of 8 months along with his seized equipment being confiscated. The individual accepted the sentence under the supervision of his lawyer and the delegated judge granted it to him.

FIFA and IOC weigh in on the situation

FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee is currently conducting its own investigation against Bev Priestman, Jasmine Mander, and Joseph Lomardi. The proceedings will decipher if the drone incident potentially breaches Article 13 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and Article 6.1 of the Regulations Olympic Football Tournaments Games of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The committee will submit its findings in the coming few days.

The IOC released a statement, standing in solidarity with the COC. “The IOC welcomes the actions announced today by the Canadian Olympic Committee following a drone incident which occurred earlier this week.” While it is unfortunate that Canada bore the brunt of this, they expect all teams to compete and behave with respect. What does this mean for the first game of the group stages tomorrow?

Team Canada will face New Zealand on July 25th, France on July 29th, and Colombia on August 1st for their Paris Olympics group-stage matches for now. In Bev Priestman’s absence, Andy Spence will be taking over. Before joining the CanWNT staff in 2020, he previously managed the Everton women’s team from 2016 to 2018 and was the assistant coach of the U19 and U21 England women’s teams and an interim U19 coach from 2020 to 2021.

The COC’s statement adds more clarity to the situation

After hearing of the 43-year-old Canadian individual’s eight-month sentence, the COC decided to hold a virtual press conference with the CEO and Secretary General, David Shoemaker, and Chief Sport Officer, Eric Myles. Post-conference, Shoemaker released his statement to clear the air. “On July 22 we were made aware of a Canadian who was detained by police in St. Ettiene, France. Soon after, we learned it was for using a drone to record a team New Zealand soccer or football practice.” The secretary-general then mentioned that they looked into the situation to figure out if there were any other similar recordings of Team NZ or any other team.

They promptly communicated with Bev Priestman and Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue, who informed them that there had been one other recording from Team NZ’s July 19th practice. However, neither of them was aware of such activity. “We also found out the footage was solely in possession of the individual who had flown the drone,” Shoemaker expressed. Due to the gravity of the situation, he stated that the COC will be developing sanctions that reflect how serious this behavior is. The secretary-general also addressed how he understands many might debate the decision to send 2 key staff members back home. However, this decision respects the principles of fair play.

As for the repercussions for Bev Priestman, “We thought about all repercussions for Bev. At the end of the day, the drone footage related to the filming of two NZL practices remained in the hands of the pilot of the drone.” Shoemaker reiterates how the COC wants to see Team Canada at the top of the podium, much like the rest of the nation. However, they want this result to be achieved right away. In 2021, Team Honduras raised concerns regarding drones flying over a qualifying session before the World Cup. While there have been conversations surrounding a drone incident during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Shoemaker promptly shut those claims down. “The notion that anything like this could have occurred with all the COVID restrictions that were in place and the limitations on people’s movements seems highly unlikely, but I’d encourage Canada Soccer to think about that,” he stated.

Based on their investigation and the conference, the secretary general believes that nothing could tarnish Team Canada’s stellar gold performance in the Japanese capital. While he has left the door open for more findings in the future, he still believes that this is highly unlikely. Shoemaker clarified that the eight-month sentence Joseph Lombardi received was not for Olympic cheating. The offense he committed was flying a drone over a prohibited area. However, Lombardi and Jasmine Mander have been receiving legal and mental health support from the COC.

Shoemaker also stated that the COC is satisfied with all the steps taken but will continue to stay in touch with the IOC and FIFA if any further action needs to be taken. “Finally, I’d like to say that, at the risk of stating the obvious, this is not how it’s Team Canada’s plan to start these games.” Despite the blip, the match scheduled at the Paris Olympics for July 25 should still go ahead with no hindrances.

New Zealand’s FA’s two cents regarding the situation

Once they received confirmation of a Canadian team staff member’s involvement in the drone incident, New Zealand’s Football CEO Andrew Pragnell released a statement. “There is no place for this type of action in football and it is critical that urgent action is undertaken to address this integrity breach.” Now that they know Team Canada has secret footage of their training session on more than one occasion, they are concerned that the integrity of the tournament could be heavily affected if no prompt action is implemented.

The CEO continued, “We note that there have been some admissions by the Canadian National Olympic Committee, and they have taken their own sanctions against the Canadian team, however, considering the seriousness of the situation and the potential implications to the sporting integrity… we have referred the matter to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee seeking urgent action.” FIFA has stated that they will be investigating this matter. However, Team New Zealand has reportedly asked that no points be awarded to Team Canada after their July 25 match. For now, Lombardi and Mander are on their way back home, and Priestman won’t be heading the team on Thursday.

What does this mean for Bev Priestman and Team Canada?

The COC continued investigating the drone situation and decided to remove the head coach, Bev Priestman, for the remainder of the Paris Olympics. While Team Canada will continue to contest on the world’s biggest stage, they will continue to do so under assistant coach Andy Spence’s guidance. Canada Soccer’s CEO and Secretary General, Kevin Blue, stated, “Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the 2024 Olympic Games.” While David Shoemaker previously stated it was highly unlikely to have happened, that has now changed.

Keeping this in mind, Canada Soccer decided to suspend Priestman for the rest of the Summer Games. “Until the completion of our recently announced independent external review,” Blue concluded. Team Canada held a press conference at the French Capital today and addressed their sentiments in light of the new information. While COC’s CEO, David Shoemaker, initially supported the three staff members removed, he stated that they would contemplate further action if the need arose. Shoemaker continued, “There appears to be information that could tarnish that Olympic performance in Tokyo.” In an earlier statement, he pointed out how he didn’t believe the current situation would impact their gold medal at the last Summer Games.

However, he now feels “ill” and “sick to his stomach” at the possibility of his “favorite Olympic moments in history” being created under different circumstances. The CEO also stated that, given the circumstances, “she [Priestman] was highly likely to have been aware.” While Kevin Blue wasn’t present at the conference, he will make himself available to clear the air soon. All things aside, he seems to be taken aback by this incident and has recommended Priestman be removed from the team. While nothing is clear as to what further disciplinary action will come out of this for now, keep an eye on this space for further updates.