Carolina Guerra: Canada Olympic soccer coach Bev Priestman Sent Home over Drone Spying Scandal

Carolina Guerra: Canada caught her pants down spying on opponent using CIA’s crappy drones…

Canadian soccer teams have been spying with drones for years

The plot in Canadian soccer’s Olympic drone spying scandal thickens.

A TSN report alleges that the Canadian men’s and women’s soccer teams have been spying on opponents — with and without drones — for years.

Canada Olympic soccer coach sent home over drone use as scandal widens

Bev Priestman was removed from her position after allegations of filming opponents’ practices by both the women’s and men’s teams were reported by TSN.

A growing scandal at the Paris Olympics over Canada Soccer’s use of drones to make unauthorized recordings of opponents’ practices took a major turn Thursday when the country’s Olympic committee removed women’s national team coach Bev Priestman. Canada Soccer’s CEO expressed concerns Friday that the incident might be reflective of a systemic problem affecting Canada’s men’s and women’s programs.

Having arrived in France with the goal of winning a second straight gold medal as Canada’s coach, Priestman instead was suspended and could face further discipline. In a news release, the Canadian Olympic Committee said she would be replaced by assistant coach Andy Spence.

“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 Kevin Blue said in a statement. “In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend Women’s National Soccer 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.”

The news release was issued shortly after the publication of a TSN story alleging that staffers and contractors for both the Canadian women’s and men’s national teams attempted to film training sessions of upcoming opponents for several years.

In a conference call with reporters on Friday, Blue said Canada’s players were not involved in any unethical behavior and the team has no plans of dropping out of the Olympics. Blue added that he has received new information that has forced him to consider that the women’s team’s recent use of drones were not isolated incidents. Blue acknowledged that he was “aware of an instance of attempted drone usage during Copa America” earlier this month by Canada’s men’s national team, which lost in the semifinals to Argentina.

“The more I learn about this specific matter, the more concerned I get about a potential long-term, deeply embedded systemic culture of this type of thing occurring, which is obviously completely unacceptable,” Blue said, according to the Athletic.

Earlier this week, Priestman sidelined herself for the women’s Olympic opener Thursday and two members of her staff were sent home after Canadian officials learned that drones were flown over two recent practices staged by New Zealand, Canada’s upcoming opponent. At the time, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker said Priestman told officials “unequivocally” that she did not know recordings had been taken of the Football Ferns’ training sessions in Saint-Étienne, France, where Canada won Thursday’s game, 2-1. But at a news conference on Friday, Shoemaker said new information led him to believe Priestman “was highly likely to have been aware of the incidents here.”

The story has raised questions about whether Canada’s national soccer programs have long encouraged such subterfuge, including an allegation that Canada’s men’s squad used a drone to record a U.S. team practice ahead of a 2019 match in Orlando. That team was coached by John Herdman from 2018 until August 2023, when he departed to become coach of MLS’s Toronto FC. Herdman was eventually replaced this spring on a permanent basis by Jesse Marsch, who earned praise for guiding the team to the semifinals of the recently concluded Copa America.

Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have relied on drones and spying for years, sources say

Coaching staff and contractors working with Canada’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams have been engaged for years in efforts to film the closed-door training sessions of their… pic.twitter.com/GuwijxTMNm

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 25, 2024

Before leading the men’s team, Herdman coached the Canadian women from 2011 to 2018, during which Priestman spent some time as an assistant and in other roles. She also overlapped with Herdman in the New Zealand national soccer program when he coached that country’s women’s’ team from 2006 to 2011. Both Priestman, 38, and the 49-year-old Herdman hail from the small Northern England town of Consett, where they first met when she was a youth soccer player.

A spokesperson for Toronto FC did not immediately respond to a request Thursday evening for comment on Herdman. A spokesman for U.S. Soccer said that organization had no comment on the reports regarding Priestman and Canada Soccer’s use of drones.