Canada drops six series points in the Olympic tournament, and head coach Bev Priestman was suspended for a year.
The Canadian women’s national soccer team’s chances of defending Tokyo Olympic gold in Paris suffered a major setback. Canada was caught spying on a drone, and the International Football Federation (Fifa) decided to punish the team with a six-point deduction from the Paris Olympic tournament.
In addition to this, the head coach who coached the team to the championship in Tokyo Bev Priestman was suspended for a year. Priestman had already been suspended by the Canadian Football Association for at least the duration of the Paris Games.
The Canadian Football Association was also fined 200,000 Swiss francs (about 208,000 euros) for the incident.
Assistant coaches Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander were caught flying a drone above the New Zealand team training in Saint-Étienne. These coaches were also suspended.
The coaches and the federation can still appeal the punishments to the International Court of Appeal for Sports (CAS).