The Canadian Olympic Committee has eliminated girls’s nationwide soccer head coach Bev Priestman for the rest of the Paris Video games after staffers allegedly used a drone to spy on an opponent.
Two Canadian crew staffers, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi, had been “despatched residence instantly” for allegedly utilizing a drone to spy on a New Zealand practice.
Canada beat New Zealand, 2-1, Thursday.
Priestman, who has denied involvement, initially volunteered to step away from the membership previous to the committee’s determination.
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Bev Priestman, the pinnacle coach of Canada, throughout a match in opposition to Mexico at BMO Discipline June 4, 2024, in Toronto. (Vaughn Ridley/Getty Pictures)
It is not simply the New Zealand incident in query, nonetheless. Canada Soccer CEO and Normal Secretary Kevin Blue mentioned in a COC launch that “further info has come to our consideration concerning earlier drone use in opposition to opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games.”
Blue added that Priestman was suspended from her duties till the tip of the event and the completion of the group’s impartial exterior assessment.
Lombardi, 43, was arrested for flying a drone over Auguste Dury Stadium Monday and filming two closed-door New Zealand coaching classes. He then admitted to the costs and was sentenced to eight months in jail.
The COC recognized Lombardi as “an unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer.”
Beverly Priestman, head coach of Canada, gestures through the quarterfinals of the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup in opposition to Costa Rica at BMO Stadium March 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Omar Vega/Getty Pictures)
“The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for truthful play, and we’re shocked and upset,” the COC mentioned in an announcement. We provide our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Soccer, to all of the gamers affected and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee.”
Priestman was employed in November 2020 to succeed Kenneth Heiner-Møller and had been engaged on a rolling contract. She led Canada to a gold medal on the 2021 Olympics, however the crew was eradicated within the group stage of final yr’s Women’s World Cup.
She mentioned in her preliminary assertion she was “finally liable for conduct in our program.”
She’s coached the crew to twenty-eight wins, 9 losses and 10 attracts.
Canadian head coach Bev Priestman talks to her crew after a She Believes Cup recreation in opposition to Brazil at Mercedes-Benz Stadium April 6, 2024, in Atlanta. (Andrea Vilchez/ISI Photographs/USSF/Getty Pictures for USSF)
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Canada is in Group A together with host nation France and Colombia.
Fox Information’ Paulina Dedaj and The Related Press contributed to this report.
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