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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
“Our initial review of the conclusions of the independent investigator reveals that the drone incident in Paris was a symptom of a past pattern of an unacceptable culture and insufficient oversight within the national teams.
“While we are being thoughtful about how best to address the findings, we also want to move decisively. To that end, we will release key conclusions and next steps within a week.”
That’s a statement from Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue on Friday, explaining that the commissioned report from the Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark law firm had been received, occasioned by the use of drones to spy on practice sessions of the New Zealand women’s team prior to their match on 25 July in Saint-Etienne, a 2-1 win for the defending Olympic champion Canadians.
A drone had been noticed by New Zealand players during their 22 July practice, and security forces investigating the vehicle traced it back to a Canadian operator, team performance analyst Joseph Lombardi. He admitted that drone surveillance had been made of a 19 July New Zealand practice, and that assistant coach Jasmine Mander was aware of the practice.
Lombardi and Mander, along with head coach Bev Priestman were eventually suspended for a year by FIFA, and the Canadian women’s team was penalized six points in their group for the transgressions, but still managed to qualify for the elimination round, losing to Germany on penalty kicks, 4-2, after a scoreless tie in the quarterfinals.
FIFA’s inquiry documentation included a statement from Canada Soccer during the investigation that noted:
“Canada is investigating the history of this matter, but we suspect that the practice of using a drone stems back to John Herdman when he was the head coach of the women’s national team. In other words, this was a practice started by one person – John Herdman – and continued by Bev Priestman.”
Priestman succeeded Herdman as coach; in July, Herdman said that he did not use drone spying at top-tier events such as the FIFA World Cup or the Olympic Games. He was the women’s national team coach from 2011-18, coached the men’s team from 2018-24 and is now the coach at Toronto FC of the MLS.
The FIFA review and sanctions applied only to the Paris 2024 Olympic tournament and not to other events. It is expected that the new report will illuminate further use of the drone tactic in other tournaments. Priestman noted in an email turned over to the FIFA review that such spying is routine and “all top-10 teams do it.”
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