Why was Canadian women’s national soccer team coach Bev Priestman dismissed from the Olympics?
Though details about what exactly happened continue to emerge, what’s clear is that the Canadian women’s national soccer team is now without its coach.
There appears to be a scandal brewing in women’s Olympic soccer. After seemingly being caught spying on opponents, Canada’s coach has been asked to leave the tournament. To that end, the Canadians must now cope with a replacement coach as they take on a stacked field.
Canada sends home head coach Bev Priestman
On Thursday, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that it had taken the decision to dismiss women’s national soccer team coach Bev Priestman from the Olympic squad. News of Priestman’s dismissal follow on from reports which indicated that both the Canadian men’s and women’s squads used drones to spy on opponents.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said in a statement. “In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend Women’s National Team Head Coach, Bev Priestman for the remainder of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and until the completion of our recently announced independent review.”
It’s worth noting that Priestman is not the only individual to be implicated and subsequently punished. Indeed, this past Tuesday, two staff members from Canada’s women’s national soccer team were sent home from the Paris Olympics following an investigation into the alleged improper use of drones. As per reports, a drone was seen above the New Zealand squad’s training session before the team’s match against Canada. The drone’s presence was reported to the French authorities who in turn attributed its presence to an analyst from Canada soccer. The analyst in question, Joseph Lombardi, as well as assistant coach Jasmine Mander was sent home. Interestingly, a report from TSN on Thursday stated that Canada has used drones for illegal espionage of opponents “for years,” including during the lead-up to the team’s march to Olympic gold at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Further to that, a formal complaint was filed against Canada by the Panamanian Football Federation after the former was found to be spying on Panama’s practice ahead of a World Cup qualifier back in 2022.
Regarding Priestman herself, the now-former coach released a statement on Wednesday, just one day before she was dismissed. “On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologize to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada,” Priestman said in her statement. “This does not represent the values that our team stands for. I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program. Accordingly, to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday. In the spirit of accountability, I do this with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld.” In light of her departure, Priestman who has served as Canada’s coach since 2020 will be replaced by assistant coach Andy Spence.