FIFA imposed a deduction of six ranking points, equivalent to two wins, on the Canadian women’s team, as well as a fine of 200,000 Swiss francs, or more than 310,000 Canadian dollars.

Head coach Bev Priestman and two previously suspended Canada Soccer employees, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, were also suspended from all soccer-related activities for a period of one year.

Systemic espionage

Recall that TSN revealed on Friday that this was not the first time that a Canada Soccer employee had filmed the training of an opposing team with a drone without their knowledge, an offense for which Lombardi was sentenced to eight months in prison by the French courts.

This illegal strategy was allegedly used particularly at the Tokyo Games, where the Canadian women’s team won gold, but also on a few occasions by the men’s team.

This would have been the case in particular on August 31, 2021, when 17 male players attended a meeting in Toronto where the selection’s coach, John Herdman, presented them with pictures of the Honduras team training, which would face each other a few days later in a World Cup qualifier.

It appears that members of Canada Soccer agreed to commit these fraudulent acts out of fear of reprisal.

Players are punished

The Canadian women’s soccer team met with the media in Saint-Étienne a few minutes before FIFA officially announced the sanction.

“We [les joueuses]we have nothing to do with it! We have been working for this for years. It is a tournament that is close to our hearts. “What is happening is really difficult for us, individually and collectively,” defender Vanessa Gilles said, visibly moved, at the Radio-Canada microphone.

“I think it would be unfair to punish the players,” commented Jessie Fleming. “I can tell you that all 22 players here deserve to participate and play in this tournament. This incident is embarrassing for us, but we had no control over it. It does not represent our values.”

On a footballing level, this sanction makes the task of Canada’s attempt to repeat its performance at the Tokyo Games by winning the gold medal much more difficult. The Canadians won their first game against New Zealand last Thursday, but the three points they collected no longer count. On Sunday they will face world number two France in a match that under normal circumstances would probably have decided who would finish top of Group A.

“It happens”

The use of drones is not uncommon in elite football, with several teams using this technology to film their own training sessions to have a different point of view, former Montreal Impact coach John Limniatis explained to us in recent days.

But the sport’s former star, Didier Drogba, went one step further on Friday on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games. In an interview with CBC, Drogba laughed when the journalist asked him if what Canada Soccer had done was common practice in football.

“It happens, it happens a few times,” he said first. “I don’t think it really affects the outcome of a game. I think it can have an impact on certain situations. On the other hand, as far as the final result goes, when you come to the game, you know what you’ve prepared and what it takes to win. You got caught, that’s all, it’s part of the game.”

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