On Wednesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued a media release (PDF) stating that the appeal by Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee “has been dismissed”.
Also on Wednesday, FIFA uploaded the 25-page decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee (PDF)* which outlines the evidence and reasoning of the Committee for its 6 points deduction against the Canadian WNT along with the other punishments, including the one year suspension of head coach Bev Priestman.
*While the cover letter of the document has a “28 July 2024” date, the “modified date” timestamp on the PDF file is “7/31/24, 7:00:32 AM”.
The FIFA decision includes evidence that has not been previously reported, including a March 2024 email from Bev Priestman that discusses “spying” against opponents with a Canada Soccer official (who is/was apparently involved in human resources).
Two emails from 20 March 2024 are quoted in the FIFA Appeal Commitee decision (Section 23). Here are the relevant summaries of those emails, from later in the decision (Section 55).
55(e):
Ms Priestman had requested [redacted] (a Performance Analyst for Team Canada) to conduct spying. [Redacted] refused to do so due to moral reasons and to maintain her reputation in the field of performance analysis, and requested Ms Priestman to confirm that she would not be asking her to fulfil the role of spying in the upcoming camps.
55(f):
After [redacted]’s email asking Mr Priestman to confirm she would not be required to spy, Ms Priestman sent an email to [redacted] (a CSA employee [redacted]) admitting that spying is something that the Canadian Team has “always done” and that it was the “difference between winning and losing”. [Redacted] forwarded the e-mail chain to the CSA’s [redacted], a high-ranking official.
Some of the key rationales in the decisions are
- “the spirit of fair play” (Section 52)
- “security and safety” (Section 53)
- “the reputation of football” (Section 54)
- “FIFA’s zero tolerance policy towards the use of prohibited technology for illicit purposes and spying on an opponent” (Section 64)
- “that the Respondents’ actions are inexcusable and unacceptable, even more so since the incident occurred at the Olympic Games, the most prestigious multi-sport event in the world” (Section 65)
- also, concerns about “obtaining an unfair advantage in the preparation of the match” (Section 67)
The decision also notes that the sanctions “relate[] only to the drone incidents at the OFT” (Olympic Football Tournament). Canada Soccer is expected “to provide FIFA with the results of [CSA’s broader investigation into spying] in order to be able assess and decide whether further action by FIFA bodies is necessary and appropriate.” (Section 75)
The public FIFA Appeal Committee decision, although redacted, apparently seems to indicate that the Canadian WNT’s spying program was started under former head coach’s John Herdman tenure. (Section 26) Also, Bev Priestman’s 20 March 2024 email states that she “know[s] there is a whole operation on the Men’s side with regards to [spying]”. (Section 23)
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