DroneGate: Canada Hit With 6 Point Deduction, Bev Priestman Suspended by FIFA, More Spying Allegations

On Saturday, FIFA announced that that the Canadian Women’s National Team has been penalized with a 6 point deduction from their group standings at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the same announcement, Canada Soccer was also fined CHF 200,000 (about $226,000 USD) and three members of the WNT’s staff were suspended from soccer-related activities for one year: Head coach Bev Priestman, performance analyst Joseph Lombardi, and assistant coach Jasmine Mander.

Also, TSN’s Rick Westhead has an article out that details additional allegations of spying by Canada’s WNT against the United States Women’s National Team and other women’s teams.

Previously:

FIFA Appeal Committee Decision

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee referred the matter directly to the FIFA Appeal Committee, who issued their decision Saturday morning: Official summary of the FIFA Appeal Committee decision. If Canada appeals this initial decision, a more formal “motivated decision” would be published by FIFA. Also, the matter can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Canadian WNT Points Deduction

Under the FIFA Disciplinary Code (2023, PDF), a “deduction of points” is one of the “disciplinary measures” available per article 6.3. The points deduction looks to be a fairer punishment than forcing Canada to forfeit some or all of its group matches, as the forfeits would have lively disadvantaged the 3rd place teams in the other groups.

Additional Punishments

The FIFA Appeal Committee also fined Canada Soccer CHF 200,000 (about $226,000 USD) and suspended three Canadian WNT staff members from all soccer-related activities for one year: Head coach Bev Priestman, performance analyst Joseph Lombardi, and assistant coach Jasmine Mander.

These punishments are only related to the current drone spying allegations, so they should not be considered the final word by FIFA on spying allegations against Canada Soccer. I would not be surprised to see Priestman’s suspension extended.

More Spying Allegations, Including Against the USWNT

On Friday, July 26th, Rick Westhead posted an article (TSN.ca) stating that some members of the Canadian Men’s National Team had been shown drone video of a Honduras MNT practice back in 2021.

The article also includes details from “two former Canada Soccer contractors who said they were asked by women’s national team coaches to film opposing team practices”. One incident involves a university student who filmed a USWNT practice in Vancouver back in 2017. A second incident involved attempts to film practices during the 2023 SheBelieves Cup, but the specific opponents were not mentioned.

On Saturday, July 27th, ESPN’s Sam Borden published an article based on interviews from “multiple sources connected to U.S. Soccer” that detail additional attempts by the Canadian Men’s National Team to spy against the United States Men’s National Team.

While none of the spying allegations in that article concern the USWNT, there was one incident, back in 2017, when John Herdman was still in charge of Canada’s WNT, where someone from that team accused the USWNT of installing cameras on a roof to spy on Canada. The objects that Canada thought were cameras turned out to be fake birds, which are used to deter other birds from landing on the roof. That article also had this choice quote:

In an odd twist, U.S. Soccer officials often joked with each other about Herdman’s penchant for publicly suggesting that Canada was actually nervous that other teams were spying on them, and that position — that Canada was the one at risk of being targeted — seeped into other Canada Soccer staffers, sources said.

…

“With Herdman and Canada,” one official said, “it was always just a little, ‘He doth protest too much.'”

Once the spying allegations are properly investigated, I would not be surprised to see all of Canada Soccer’s teams suspended from international competitions for a period of two or more years, say from 2025 to 2028. In other words, no men’s World Cup, no Women’s World Cup, and no Olympics, along with no youth tournaments.