Bev Priestman will not return as Canada football coach in wake of drone scandal
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Canada women's football coach Bev Priestman will not return to her role after a review into the use of drones at the Paris Olympics.
PHOTO: REUTERS
ONTARIO – Bev Priestman will not return as coach of the Canadian women’s football team following an independent report on the use of drones to spy on opponents at the Paris Olympics, Canada Soccer said on Nov 12.
Priestman, 38, and two other team officials were banned by Fifa from any football-related activity for one year after New Zealand complained that Canada flew drones over their training sessions before their opening match in Paris on July 25.
But following an independent review commissioned by Canada Soccer, the national governing body said the trio had effectively been fired, and a search for a new coach would commence shortly.
In July, Priestman apologised for the drone scandal and said that, as the leader of the team, she accepted accountability and planned to cooperate fully with the investigation.
“The findings of the independent investigator reveal that the incident itself was a symptom of a difficult and unacceptable past culture within the national teams,” Canada Soccer president Peter Augruso and chief executive Kevin Blue said in a joint statement.
“Quite simply, while players on the national teams performed admirably, cultural standards and management of the programmes dating back several years fell short of expectations.”
Among the report’s findings, Priestman and an assistant coach “directed, approved and condoned” the use of a drone by a third member of the coaching staff to film an opposing team’s training session in Paris.
The report also determined that the Paris drone footage was not viewed by the players, whose bid to defend the gold medal Canada won at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ended with a quarter-final loss to Germany.
With the investigation now concluded, Canada Soccer is in the process of taking disciplinary steps.
According to an additional note that accompanied the summary findings, Canada Soccer “initiated a proceeding” with respect to former Canadian men and women’s national coach John Herdman for potential violations of its code of conduct and ethics.
Canada Soccer said Herdman, currently coach of Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC, was invited to be interviewed for the investigation but, due to scheduling issues, they were not able to reach a mutually agreed time to meet.
Herdman, who was coach of the women’s team from 2011 to 2018 before taking over the men’s side from 2018 to 2023, said in July that he was confident such spying practices did not occur under his watch.
He managed the Canadian women’s team at the 2012 London Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics, as well as the Women’s World Cup in 2015.
He also led the men’s national team at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. REUTERS
