He Canadian Olympic Committee announced this Saturday that the coach of the national women's football team, Bev Priestmanwas suspended for a year after it was discovered she was using drones to spy on the Olympic team New Zealand before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In addition to the coach's suspension, the Canadian team was penalized by the loss of six points in the group stage of the Olympic Games, a sanction which greatly complicates its chances of advancing to the next round.

The scandal broke when the team New Zealand Women's Football reported to International Olympic Committee (IOC) that drones had flown over their closed-door training sessions earlier in the week.

Subsequently, it was reported that both Canadian women's and men's teams they would have used drones illegally to record his opponents' close training sessions for several years.

THE Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) announced the suspension of Priest Thursday, and the coach did not lead the team in his first game of the Paris Games, where Canada beat New Zealand 2-1.

Priestman denied any knowledge of the drone use, but decided to withdraw from the team for the opening match as a show of responsibility. However, following new revelations, the CSA extended his suspension to cover the remainder of the tournament and announced an independent investigation into the matter.

Priest, 38 years old and originally from Consett (England)led Canada to its first Olympic gold medal in women's soccer at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Rick Westhead from the middle TSN reported that the Canadian team also benefited from drone spying practices during these Olympics.

The six-point penalty leaves Canada in a precarious position. They were initially tied at the top of Group A with France after their win over New Zealand, but now technically find themselves bottom of the group, behind New Zealand and Colombia, both on zero points.

Canada will need to win its final two games against France and Colombia to have any hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals as one of the two best third-placed teams.

The situation was further complicated when it was discovered that two members of the Canadian team's staff, assistant Jasmine Mandre and the analyst Joseph Lombardiwere also involved in drone espionage activities and were returned to Canada.

French police intercepted Lombardy when he recovered a drone that had been New Zealand training overview and found incriminating images and text messages involving Mander.

The scandal has placed Canada's national women's soccer team under intense scrutiny. Kevin BlueCanada Soccer CEO, announced the suspension of Priestman and the launch of an independent external review to investigate not only the incident in France, but also the historical ethical practices of the men's and women's national team programs.

The spying practices aren't limited to the recent Olympics. Canadian teams have reportedly been using drones to record their opponents' training sessions for several years, including at previous tournaments like the 2022 Women's World Cup and the World Cup qualifiers.

An entrepreneur Canada Soccer He was even caught trying to record a private training session for the women's team. Panama in 2022, which led to a formal complaint from the Panamanian Football Federation.

These revelations have provoked a strong reaction in the world of football. Amy WalshA former Canadian women's national team player, expressed her outrage, saying: “It's horrible, the worst possible. I feel sick, really nauseous. I understand that at high levels people will do anything to gain a competitive advantage, but this is crossing the line.”

As the investigation progresses, FIFA And Canada Soccer They are faced with the task of restoring integrity and trust in their programs. Meanwhile, the Canadian team is fighting for its survival in the Paris Olympic Games under the interim leadership of assistant Andy Spence, who took over the role of head coach following the suspension of Priest.