Canada appealing 6-point deduction for drone spying

Canada is appealing the six-point deduction levied by FIFA against the Olympic women’s soccer team that stemmed from a staffer flying a drone over New Zealand’s training sessions before the start of the Paris Games.

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer filed the appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday, arguing it “unfairly punishes the athletes for actions they had no part in and goes far beyond restoring fairness to the match against New Zealand.” A hearing will likely take place Tuesday, with the final decision expected midday Wednesday, CAS said in a news release. Canada plays Colombia on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in Nice (3 p.m. ET) in its final group stage game.

Canada defeated New Zealand and France in its first two games, but currently sits third in Group A with zero points because of the deduction. Canada could still advance out of the group stage with a win over Colombia, but a restoration of the six points would put the Canadians atop Group A entering the final game.

In addition to deducting six points from the team’s Olympic group stage total (the equivalent of two wins), FIFA suspended Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman and two other staffers for one year and issued a fine Saturday. Canada did not appeal the suspensions.

The drone spying first came to light on July 22, when New Zealand team staff members noticed a drone flying above their practice in Saint-Étienne, France, and notified police. Law enforcement tracked the drone back to its operator, Joseph Lombardi, an analyst with the Canadian women’s team, the COC said.

The Canadian Olympic Committee said Wednesday that a separate drone incident at New Zealand training — on July 19 — had come to light.

FIFA’s decision concerned Canada Soccer’s actions at the Olympics only. The international governing body found that Canada Soccer was “responsible for failing to respect the applicable FIFA regulations in connection with its failure to ensure the compliance of its participating officials of the OFT with the prohibition on flying drones over any training sites.” Priestman, Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander were all found “responsible for offensive behavior and violation of the principles of fair play.”

Before Priestman’s suspension from FIFA, she was suspended through the Olympics and until the conclusion of a wide-ranging investigation from Canada Soccer that will extend across both the men’s and women’s programs. She pledged to fully cooperate with that investigation in a statement Sunday, when she apologized to Canada’s players.

Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said that based on what he had learned so far, he was concerned there was “a potential long-term, deeply embedded systemic culture” of surveillance of other teams.

Blue said he was aware of an attempt to use a drone at Copa America, though he clarified that current men’s coach Jesse Marsch was unaware of its use until after the fact.

On Sunday, Canada sports minister Carla Qualtrough said the government is “withholding funding relating to the suspended Canada Soccer officials for the duration of their FIFA suspension.”

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(Photo: Tullio M. Puglia / Getty Images)