Canada women’s soccer staffer flew drone over New Zealand’s practice in wild 2024 Olympics drama

This time, you can “Blame Canada.”

A “non-accredited member of the Canada Soccer support team” was caught flying a drone over New Zealand’s women’s Olympic soccer team practice on Monday in Saint-Etienne, France.

Both nation’s Olympic committees have acknowledged the incident and Canada apologized in a statement of its own on Tuesday evening.

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The New Zealand Olympic Committee said in its statement that a drone piloted by a Canadian women’s soccer team support staffer was spotted over New Zealand’s training session.

The drone was immediately reported to police, according to the statement, and the drone operator was detained by authorities, though it is unclear if there were any charges filed in relation to the incident.

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“The NZOC has formally lodged the incident with the IOC integrity unit and has asked Canada for a full review,” the statement said.

The New Zealand statement also said that the Canadians had apologized to the Olympic committee.

The Canadian Olympic Committee said it became aware of the situation after the complaint was made on Monday and expressed that they were “shocked and disappointed” over the matter.

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“The staff member is believed to have been using a drone to record the New Zealand women’s football team during practice,” the COC said in a statement. “The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair-play and we are shocked and disappointed. We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee. We are reviewing next steps with the IOC, Paris 2024, Canada Soccer, and FIFA.”

The Canadians said they would provide a further update on Wednesday.

The incident comes just days before the defending gold medalists open the group stage of the Summer Olympics against New Zealand at Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium.

Canada captured gold during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo held in 2021 by defeating Sweden on penalties.

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