Paris : Canada Olympic Committee (COC) has suspended Canadian Women’s Football Team Head Coach Bev Priestman. This decision came following her drone spying controversy prior to the match against New Zealand.
A Canadian Football staff on July 22 , flew a drone over a New Zealand training session, causing a disruption just days before the two teams were set to face each other.
In response, expressing her regret, she took all the responsibility for this conduct , being the head coach, saying, “This does not represent the values that our team stands for. I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program.”
FIFA, the governing body decided to take action against the head coach and 2 other staff members
Canada Soccer also announced on Wednesday their intention to conduct an independent external investigation. The review will focus on the drone occurrence and examine the historical culture of competitive ethics across all of its programs.
“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 & General Secretary, Kevin Blue, said in an emailed statement, as reported by Reuters.
“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.”
For the rest of the Paris Olympics, the Canadian women’s team will be under the guidance of assistant coach Andy Spence, as stated by the COC.
