FIFA deals Canada women's soccer team hefty punishment for Olympic drone scandal

Things have gone from bad to worse for defending gold medalist Team Canada at this summer’s Olympics. Despite winning its first match 2-1 on Thursday, the women's soccer team is engulfed in scandal .

On Monday, French police caught Canada women's soccer team analyst Joseph Lombardi retrieve a drone that spied on opening-match opponent New Zealand. Lombardi later admitted guilt and is serving an eight-year suspended sentence for "maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area."

Sources with firsthand knowledge told TSN Thursday that the team has been doing this for years, citing incidents back to 2019. A Canada Soccer contractor alleges that refusing to film opponent's trainings got them replaced ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Monday's incident and these allegations prompted a stiff response from FIFA on Saturday, the day before Canada's second Olympic group-stage match versus host France.

Lombardi, head coach Bev Priestman and assistant Jasmine Mander are suspended for one year from any football-related activity. This comes after the three were sent home from the Olympics before the weekend.

Canada's win versus New Zealand Thursday is essentially erased due to FIFA's six-point deduction. It sits at the bottom of Group A with -3 points as the road to its title defense becomes nearly unmanageable.

While the swift action from FIFA is justified, the players on the pitch suffer most from the regrettable and unacceptable actions of their staff members.

Retired from international soccer, Canadian legend and all-time men's and women's international goal scorer Christine Sinclair defended her teammates as many question how much players knew about the spying.

Stephanie Labbe, Canada's goalkeeper for its Olympic gold-medal win in Tokyo, spoke out against accusations that her penalty save record was due to watching drone footage of opponents.

Pending a full investigation from FIFA, there's a possibility that the players are stripped of their gold medals from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Even if not, this scandal casts a shadow on what for many is the greatest achievement of their career.

While fair to Canada's opponents, the punishment is extremely harsh for the players who have approached their national team duty with integrity.

The actions of a few taint the legacy of many.