Paris: Amid a drone spying scandal, Canada’s women’s football team was docked six points for the Olympics in Paris, and three of its coaches received one-year bans on Saturday. Before their first game on Wednesday, they were allegedly caught employing drones to spy on opponent New Zealand’s practice sessions.
“Following disciplinary proceedings opened against the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and its officials Beverly Priestman, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, the Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to refer the case directly to the FIFA Appeal Committee in accordance with article 56.3 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC),” FIFA said in a statement on Saturday.
“This decision was taken due to the possibility that the outcome of the proceedings affects the development of the ongoing Women’s Olympic Football Tournament—Games of the XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024 Final Competition (OFT) and with the aim of safeguarding the respondents’ rights,” it added.
FIFA imposed the appropriate sanction after determining that the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) violated Article 6.1 of the XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024 Final Competition (OFT) and Article 13 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
“CSA: an automatic deduction of six points from the Canadian Soccer Association’s Women’s representative team’s standing in Group A of the OFT, and a fine of CHF 200,000, and Beverly Priestman, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander: each official suspended from taking part in any football-related activity for one year.”
Despite the scandal, Canada won its opening game against New Zealand 2-1, which means it is now at -3 points and last in Group A. Despite the point deduction, Canada still has an outside chance of qualifying and will face France in its second group game on Monday (IST).
“CSA was found 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,” it concluded.
–IANS
