Canada football coach apologizes over Olympic spying scandal
Saint-Étienne, France — Canada's disgraced women's soccer coach Bev Priestman on Sunday apologized for the spying scandal that has rocked their Paris Olympics campaign and promised to cooperate with an investigation.
Priestman said she was "absolutely heartbroken" for her players, in a letter issued by her lawyers and published by Canadian media.
It was released just before the team, the reigning Olympic champions, claimed a dramatic 2-1 win over hosts France to keep their hopes alive at the Paris Games.
Canada were deducted six points by FIFA and coach Priestman was suspended for a year after a staff member used a drone to spy on a rival team's training session last week.
The staff member, analyst Joey Lombardi, was given a suspended eight-month prison sentence and sent home from the Olympics along with assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Priestman.
The Briton Priestman was also suspended by Canada before FIFA delivered its verdict.
"I am absolutely heartbroken for the players, and I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the impact this situation has had on all of them," Priestman said in the letter. "I know how hard they have worked following a very difficult year in 2023, and that they are a group of people who care very much about sportsmanship and integrity.
"As the leader of the team on the field, I want to take accountability, and I plan to fully cooperate with the investigation,” she said.
The punishment means Canada have zero points after two games in Group A of the Olympic tournament, despite winning both matches so far.
They started their campaign with a 2-1 win against New Zealand, the team whose training sessions had been targeted by the drone.
That left them having to beat France on Sunday to stay alive and they did just that as a Vanessa Gilles goal in the 12th minute of injury time secured a thrilling win.
Another win against Colombia on Wednesday may yet be enough for them to reach the quarterfinals against the odds.
"I think it has brought us closer. It feels like us against the world right now," said captain Jessie Fleming, who scored Canada's equalizer against France. "I definitely didn't have this on my bingo card for this Olympics."
She added that the points deduction was "incredibly unfair," insisting that the players "had absolutely no control over the situation."
"It was incredibly upsetting to hear the news, but I am just so proud about how we were able to gather ourselves and put out a performance today and win,” Fleming said. "That is the first step, and then go on to beat Colombia and we are going to progress out of this group."