Canadian women’s football staff sent home from Olympics over drone incident

Canada head coach Bev Priestman apologies to New Zealand, says spying scandal does not represent team’s ‘values’.

Canadian women’s football coach Bev Priestman has removed herself from opening match duties at the Paris Olympics while an assistant coach and a team analyst were kicked out of the Games after a spying scandal engulfed the tournament.

The sport’s governing body FIFA said on Wednesday that it had begun disciplinary proceedings after New Zealand’s women’s team said a training session this week had been disrupted by a drone flown by a Canadian team staff member.

Canada and New Zealand will face each other in the opening match of Group A on Thursday.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) also said it had taken action to remove two staff members from the team’s Olympic squad, who were gold medallists at the Tokyo Games.

“Joseph Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer, is being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and will be sent home immediately,” COC said in a statement.

“Jasmine Mander, an assistant coach to whom Mr Lombardi reports to, is being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and will be sent home immediately.”

Lombardi, 43, was also given a suspended eight-month prison sentence for flying the drone over the New Zealand training session on Monday in Saint-Etienne.

In a statement, Priestman – the Canadian team’s head coach – said she had decided to “voluntarily withdraw” from the match against New Zealand on Thursday.

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologise to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada. This does not represent the values that our team stands for,” Priestman said.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) reported the incident to the police and to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit.

The NZOC said it and New Zealand Football “are committed to upholding the integrity and fairness of the Olympic Games”.

“At this time the NZOC’s main priority is to support the New Zealand women’s football athletes and wider team as they start their campaign,” it added.