The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced Wednesday that it had dismissed Canada’s appeal against their soccer team’s points deduction at the Paris Games due to a drone scandal. The CAS panel of three judges confirmed the six-point deduction imposed by FIFA on Saturday.
The controversy arose when two assistant coaches used drones to spy on New Zealand’s practices last week before their opening game. As a result, Canada was docked six points, and coach Bev Priestman, along with officials Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, were banned from any soccer-related activity for one year by FIFA, following a complaint from New Zealand regarding the drone flights over their training sessions.
The urgent verdict was delivered less than eight hours before Canada, the defending Olympic champion, was set to play Colombia in Nice in the final round of Group A games. Canada remains third in the standings with zero points despite winning both their games against New Zealand and France. It is still possible for them to advance to the quarterfinals with a win on Wednesday.
This six-point punishment for violating FIFA rules during a tournament is strange in the history of modern soccer. For comparison, Ecuador is currently facing a three-point penalty in the qualifiers for the men’s 2026 World Cup in South America, imposed by CAS judges. This sanction was due to Ecuador fielding an ineligible player with falsified documents during their successful qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup.
Canada Soccer expressed disappointment with the decision, stating that they continue to believe their players should not have been punished for actions beyond their control.
The national federation announced that an independent external review had begun, focusing initially on the incident at the Olympics before addressing other issues, amidst media reports suggesting that the use of drones may have occurred before the Paris Games.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the Canada Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer thanked the CAS for the expedited hearing. Additionally, Sport Canada announced on Monday that it was withholding funding allocated for the salaries of Priestman and the two other suspended team officials, labeling the drone scandal an embarrassment to all Canadians.
