Canada loses 6 points, manager banned over spy scandal

Canada women’s soccer boss Pev Priestman has been banned from coaching for 1 year, and the Canadian team has been docked 6 points during the Olympics, FIFA revealed today after investigating charges that staff members of the North American country used a drone to spy on an opponent’s closed training last week.

The penalties are huge. For the Canadian team, which is here to defend the gold medal it won at the last Olympics in Tokyo, a 6-point deduction will make it almost impossible to advance to the elimination phase, while Priestman – who coached as an assistant under Phil Neville with England’s women’s national team before taking over the Canadian position 4 years ago – is banned in taking part in any football-related activity for a calendar year.

Canadian head coach 2 assistants implicated in the case were also suspended from all football activities for the same period of time like Priestman.

Canada Soccer shared that they will try to appeal the docked points.

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🚨🚨| The Canada Women's team has been handed a six-point DEDUCTION in the Olympic football tournament for using drones to spy on opposition teams 😳🇨🇦

FIFA has BANNED the head coach of the Canada women's football team, Bev Priestman, and two other officials for a year and fined… pic.twitter.com/VwzPoFkf2Y

— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) July 27, 2024