Canada Soccer 'spygate' scandal explained: Paris Olympics, Copa America & how a spy drone plunged Canadian football into crisis

Canada Soccer and the Canada Olympic Committee (COC) became embroiled in incredible controversy during the 2024 Olympic Games in France, with the women's Olympic soccer team at the center of it all.

The chaos was sparked by a drone that flew over a training session of the New Zealand women's soccer team, Canada's first opponent at the tournament, and resulted in two members of staff being sent home and head coach Bev Priestman being suspended - and then banned.

Further developments have suggested this is not an isolated case either. An incident of attempted drone usage involving the men's team has come to light from Copa America 2024, while TSN has reported that the women's team used the technology ahead of its opening match at the Olympics in 2021, from which it emerged with a gold medal.

GOAL has everything you need to know about the controversy, the incidents that have been identified and the further consequences Canada and its staff have faced, particularly relating to the 2024 Olympic Games.

Did Canada use a drone at the 2024 Olympic Games?

On July 22, three days before the 2024 Olympic women's football tournament began, New Zealand Football lodged a complaint regarding a drone that was hovering above its closed-door training session. Police later arrested Joseph Lombardi, an 'unaccredited analyst' with the Canada team, who used the drone to film New Zealand's training session. Lombardi was charged with flying an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area and accepted an eight-month suspended sentence.

The COC reviewed the drone incident and, upon learning new details, removed Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander from the Olympic team. The pair were sent home immediately and a statement from the COC said they would undergo "mandatory ethics training". Head coach Priestman also withdrew from coaching the game against New Zealand, leaving assistant Andy Spence in charge.

After the game was played on July 25, which Canada won 2-1, a report was released by TSN alleging that Canada's men's and women's soccer teams have 'engaged for years in efforts to film the closed-door training sessions of their opponents, including during the women's gold-medal winning Olympic tournament in 2021'. Shortly after this article was published, Canada Soccer announced that Priestman had been suspended and that Spence would take charge of the women's team for the remainder of the Olympics.

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What did Canada Soccer say about the Olympic drone incident?

On July 24, a joint-statement from Canada Soccer president Peter Augruso and its CEO Kevin Blue read: "As the leaders of Canada Soccer, we want to express our unequivocal disapproval of the actions taken by members of our women’s national team staff at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. On behalf of our federation, we offer our sincere apologies to the impacted players, coaches, and officials.

"Canada Soccer has always sought to prioritize integrity and fair competition, and we understand that competing with honesty is a baseline expectation for all Canadians. We failed to meet those expectations in this case, and for that, we apologize. As an immediate next step, Canada Soccer will proceed with an independent external review. This review will address the circumstances of the current matter, and more broadly, will seek to understand the historical culture of competitive ethics within all of our programs. The outcome of this review will be shared publicly and corrective actions, if necessary, will be taken. We will maintain prompt and transparent communication on this matter."

On July 26, after Priestman had been suspended, Blue faced the media in a virtual press conference. "We are trying to directly address what appears like it could be a systemic ethical shortcoming in a way that's frankly, unfortunately painful right now, but is turning out to be a necessary part of the rehabilitation process," he said.

Did Canada's Olympic women's soccer team face punishment at Paris 2024?

On July 27, it was announced that Canada would be deducted six points at the tournament. Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee revealed on July 29 that it would appeal this sanction but, two days later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed it.

The punishment came despite a plea from Blue, the federation's CEO, not to punish the players as such. "The players themselves have not been involved in any unethical behavior and frankly, we ask FIFA to take that into consideration if contemplating any further sanctions," he said. "Specifically, we do not feel that a deduction of points in this tournament would be fair to our players, particularly in light of the significant and immediate steps we've taken to address the situation."

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Is Bev Priestman still the head coach of the Canada women's national team?

In the early hours of July 26, Canada Soccer announced that Priestman had been suspended. A statement from Blue read: "Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend women's national soccer team head coach Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and until the completion of our recently announced independent external review.”

When asked in his press conference later that day if Priestman would be head coach of the team beyond the Olympics, Blue said: "I don't have a specific answer to the question other than she's, at the moment, suspended, pending the outcome of our review of this matter entirely. Upon conclusion of that review, and upon gathering more information from that review, there will be additional opportunity to see what steps additionally need to be taken, if any."

Asked if Spence, in charge for the rest of the Olympics, knew about the drone incident, Blue replied: "I don't believe Andy had awareness of the issue."

On July 27, FIFA announced that Priestman had been suspended from all football-related activity for one year. Just a few days later, a FIFA report was released containing emails from Priestman that did not reflect well on the coach. They showed the 38-year-old speaking to a HR official after a performance analyst had said they were unwilling to spy on opponents. "It's something the analyst has always done and I know there is a whole operation on the men's side with regards to it," she wrote. "Yesterday in a meeting when discussing, I asked [the analyst] to propose [an] alternative solution as for scouting it can be the difference between winning and losing and all top 10 teams do it."

When Canada Soccer released the findings of the independent external investigation into events on November 12, it announced that the three individuals currently suspended by FIFA would not be returning, including Priestman. It will now start its search for a new head coach.

Has Canada's men's soccer team used drones?

In the TSN report, there was also detail on how Canada's men's soccer team had used drones before. One source detailed an instance of Canada using a drone to record a United States men's national team training session before a game in November 2019, which the U.S. won 4-1. In 2021, Honduras stopped a training session in Toronto during World Cup qualifiers after a drone had been spotted above.

When asked if the men's team had used drones before, Blue said: "I've been receiving a lot of anecdotal feedback about the history of the issue as it relates to both programs. As it relates to the current situation on the men's team, I'm aware of an instance of attempted drone usage during Copa America. My current understanding is that the fact pattern of that instance is significantly different than what occurred here, especially as it relates to the potential impact on competitive integrity. However, we're doing a review to specifically obtain a full understanding of these situations and what others may exist. I have spoken with our current head coach [Jesse Marsch] about the incident after it occurred and I know that he has denounced it as a practice to his staff. That's what I can report to you now. Of course, there's going to be a significant and thorough review as we proceed with the investigation."

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Did Canada use drones at Copa America 2024?

Quizzed further on the incident at Copa America, at which Marsch's Canada team reached the semi-finals before being beaten by eventual champion Argentina, Blue said: "I learned that there was an incident. I learned that, again, the fact pattern in that specific incident is different, as far as I understand it today, from what has occurred here [with the women's team at the Olympics], in the sense that the potential impact on the competitive integrity of a match was not at risk in that incident. I will learn more about the totality of this as we dig into it through the formal process."

Asked if Marsch was aware of that incident, Blue said: "He was aware of it after the fact, at a minimum, and, again, through the process here, we're going to have further analysis and review about the extent of everybody's knowledge of it." The Canada Soccer CEO added that Marsch "explained to me that he denounced it immediately and forcefully and has communicated that to his staff, both the existing staff and staff that were from previous coaching staffs that are still with us".

What did the independent investigation into Canada Soccer's drone scandal find?

There were a number of key findings from the independent external investigation into Canada Soccer's drone scandal, which was conducted by Sonia Regenbogen of Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark, LLP, and released on November 12.

The report found that two women's national team coaches 'directed, approved and condoned' the actions of a third member of staff to film an opponent's training session at the 2024 Olympic Games with a drone, but that this footage was not seen by the players. No evidence was found of similar happening at the 2021 Olympics, at which Canada won gold.

With regards to the men's team, 'potential violations' by a former head coach of the Canada Soccer code of conduct and ethics were identified. Here, it is important to note that names were redacted to comply with privacy laws and with confidentiality commitments. As for the allegation of drone usage by a staff member on the men's national team at Copa America, that could not be 'substantiated' by the report.

Finally, the report concluded that Canada Soccer CEO Blue and Peter Augruso, president and board chair, 'did not condone the use of drones for surveillance of opponents and were not previously aware of the use of drones for surveillance of opponents'.

What happens next for Canada Soccer?

Regarding on pitch matters, Canada Soccer's most important task moving forward is to identify a suitable replacement for Priestman as the women's national team moves into it's next competition cycle. The 2027 Women's World Cup will be its next major international tournament.

Behind the scenes, meanwhile, the federation is looking to ensure a scandal like this never happens again. Speaking upon the announcement of the report's findings, Augruso, president of Canada Soccer, said: "Over the last several months, Kevin has brought forward plans to increase accountability and transparency across the organization to ensure this doesn’t happen again. This work has already begun, and will continue as we move forward, so that these practical measures will ensure excellence and integrity on the pitch and within the organization. At the board level, we are implementing the recommendations of the June 2024 independent governance report to modernize our structure and processes, while enhancing oversight.”

Blue, the federation CEO, added: "The findings of the independent investigator reveal that the drone incident in Paris was a symptom of a past pattern of an unacceptable culture and insufficient oversight within the national teams. This is no longer part of our operations. In fact, the investigation findings strengthen our resolve to continue implementing changes that are needed to improve Canada Soccer, in all respects, and to do so with urgency."