Dronegate: Canada women's soccer team loses Olympics spying appeal

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Canadian Olympic women's soccer team lost an appeal over a drone-spying scandal that cost it an unprecedented six points in group standings, but still managed to advance to the quarterfinal round with a 1-0 victory over Colombia.

Soccer's international governing body FIFA docked six points from the Canadian team's group stage total after staffers were caught using drones to spy on New Zealand's training sessions before competition started last week.

Canada Soccer also was fined $225,000, while head coach Bev Priestman and two assistants were suspended for one year.

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer filed an appeal with an Olympic tribunal seeking to cancel or reduce the points deduction, but the effort was rejected on Wednesday ahead of the team's final group stage match.

Defending gold medalists Canada scored 2-1 victories over France and New Zealand in their first two contests but entered Wednesday's match against Colombia with zero points in the standings.

The Canadian women were able to hold on for a tight 1-0 victory in Nice on the strength of a Vanessa Gilles goal in the 61st minute. The three points earned were enough for a second-place finish in Group A standings and a ticket to the knockout round, which they will face Germany in Marseille on Saturday.

"We always knew that we could do it," Gilles told reporters . "The chances were stacked against us, but we pulled through. We stayed together through it all."

While the players have not been implicated, the shadow of the spying scandal has hovered over the team throughout Paris 2024.

"We haven't slept in the last three days, we haven't eaten, we've been crying," Gilles said earlier this week. "It's not us, we're not cheaters. We're damn good players, we're a damn good team."

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Olympic tribunal that rejected the appeal did not explainl the reasoning behind its decision, saying in a brief statement that it would reveal the full details at a later date.

However, the FIFA report on its investigation, also released Wednesday, painted a fuller portrait of a drone practice that Canada Soccer admitted may have been "systemically embedded in the culture of the women's national team."

In one email supplied by Canada Soccer to FIFA, an unnamed performance analyst registered an objection to "spying" on other teams to coach Bev Priestman.

"As discussed yesterday, in terms of the 'spying' conversation, I came off the meeting with clarity that you understood my reasons for me being unwilling to do this moving forward," the email dated March 20 read.

The analyst cited moral qualms and the impact on her professional reputation as reasons for refusing to participate.

A separate email sent by Priestman to another recipient on the same day claimed the use of drones is a common practice.

"Seeking your advice and input here regarding this formal email on spying," Priestman wrote. "It's something the analyst has always done and I know there is a whole operation on the men's side with regards to it."

"As for scouting it can be the difference between winning and losing, and all top 10 teams do it," she added.

Canada Soccer has not yet publicly responded to the FIFA report, but issued a joint statement with the Canadian Olympic Commission expressing disappointment in the arbitration court's ruling.

"While disappointed in the outcome of our appeal, we commend the players for their incredible resilience and grit over the course of this tournament," the statement said.

The spying scandal broke last week when the New Zealand Olympic Committee announced that a drone was seen flying over their women's soccer team's training session in Saint-Etienne.

New Zealand Football reported the incident to French police, who then detained a member of Canada's support staff.

On Saturday, Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said that he was looking into allegations about the drone-spying practice going back "several years."

"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 during a virtual press conference .

"I've been receiving a lot of anecdotal feedback about the history of the issue as it relates to both programs, as it relates to the current situation on the men's team," he said.

The Canadian women's team won the gold medal at Tokyo 2020 after winning bronze in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

The medal round kicks off on Saturday and runs until the final Aug. 10 in Paris.