The Canadian Olympic Committee has removed the coach of the Canadian women’s team after staff members were caught spying on the Football Ferns’ training sessions ahead of their opening match at the Olympic Games in France.
Coach Bev Priestman, who had initially been suspended by Canada Soccer, has now been told by the Canadian Olympic Committee she is no longer welcome to be in charge of the team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Andy Spence will now coach Canada for the remainder of the Games.
Canada Soccer chief executive officer and General Secretary Kevin Blue says it was decided to remove Priestman from the team after they became aware of other incidents where drones had been used to spy on opponents.
Blue says over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to their attention regarding previous done use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
He says 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.
Tokyo gold medallists Canada beat the Football Ferns 2-1 in their game in Saint-Étienne on Friday morning.
Earlier this week New Zealand Football complained to FIFA, demanding “urgent action”, after learning Canada flew a drone to spy on the New Zealand national women’s team on two separate occasions.
Canada analyst Joseph Lombardi has reportedly been given a suspended eight-month prison sentence for using a drone to spy on their opponents.
Source: Stuff.co
