Canada Soccer drone scandal explained: Bev Priestman out as coach, investigation findings, what’s next

Bev Priestman will not return as the head coach of Canada’s women’s national team after an independent investigation commissioned by the Canadian Soccer Association found that she directed staff to use drones to spy on opponents, a plan that culminated with a scandal at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Priestman, as well as former assistant coaches Jasmine Minder and Joey Lombardi, have been serving a one-year ban since July when the scandal broke shortly before the start of the women’s soccer competition. Canada Soccer said in a statement on Tuesday that the search for a new head coach will begin soon.

The coaching announcement was bundled with the findings from the independent investigation conducted by Sonia Regenbogen of Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark, LLP, which corroborated reporting that staff on the men’s and women’s national teams were involved in a years-long spying operation. The investigation focused on tournaments that took place over the last two years, though only the Paris Olympics and last summer’s Copa America were explicitly mentioned.

At the Olympics, investigators concluded that women’s national team staff spied on New Zealand on July 20 and 22. Several members of the coaching staff, whose names were redacted, watched footage from the first day, while video from the second day was eventually seized by local authorities after New Zealand alerted them. The investigator said that players never viewed the footage.

As for the Copa America, investigators disclosed that an unnamed men’s national team staff member operated a drone to “inappropriately” record a training session in Orlando, Fla., likely before Canada’s game against Chile. The drone was spotted by detection software at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and though was not found to contain any footage, the issue was reported to CONMEBOL, who revoked that person’s credential and fined Canada Soccer. The investigators described it as “very different from what occurred at the Olympics.”

The investigator also found that unspecified Canada Soccer staff members organized a drone-spying scheme during an unnamed competition from June 2022 to March 2024. Notably, though, the investigators said that “there was no information presented in the investigation,” suggesting that women’s national team staff used drones to spy on opponents during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when Canada won gold. That finding, though, came with the caveat that “the investigation was not a full review of whether surreptitious surveillance was used at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.”

Several people did not participate in the investigation, most of their names were redacted. Former men’s and women’s national team head coach John Herdman, who is reportedly the chief architect of Canada’s drone spying scheme, was unable to speak to investigators “due to scheduling conflicts,” though he is not necessarily off the hook. The findings revealed that Canada Soccer has already opened a proceeding focused on Herdman as it pertains to their disciplinary code.

When did the scandal begin?

New Zealand defender Rebekah Stott noticed a drone flying over their training in Saint-Etienne, France on July 19, six days before the opening day of the women’s soccer competition at the Paris Games. Stott, a drone fanatic, immediately alerted the team’s staff and they shut down training.

“We were just doing throw-ins or something like that and I was just kind of waiting for Ali Riley to throw me the ball and then I hear this noise,” Stott recalled on an episode of The Women’s Game podcast. “I’m a bit of a drone enthusiast, I’ve got one myself, so I hear this noise, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, is that a Mavic Pro?’ Anyway, I look up to my left and sure enough, there’s a freaking drone there. I turned to our coach and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s a drone.’ He went off and talked to our manager who got the security.”

The incident was reported to local authorities, who arrested Joseph Lombardi later that day. The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) identified him as “an unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer” in a statement on July 24, when the scandal broke, though the CBC reported that week that Lombardi was actually an official member of Canada’s coaching staff for the tournament.

Lombardi was subsequently sent home, as was assistant coach Jasmine Mander. Canada women’s head coach Bev Preistman said she would step back for the team’s game against New Zealand on July 25 “to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity.” Hours before kickoff, though, Priestman was suspended by Canada Soccer after they received new information demonstrating that the head coach played a big role in organizing the drone spying operation.

What punishment have they faced?

FIFA hit Canada with a six-point deduction during the group stage as well as a fine of $226,000. Priestman, Mander and Lombardi, were suspended for a year. The Canadian Olympic Committee appealed the point deduction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but were unsuccessful in their attempt. During the appeal process, it was revealed that Priestman argued that “all top 10 teams do it” in an email months earlier.

How long has Canada been spying on other teams?

As Tuesday’s findings demonstrate, the drone spying was not limited to the Paris Olympics or to the women’s team. Herdman began implementing the approach during his spell as the women’s national team coach from 2011 to 2018, with staff discussing the tactic as early as 2016 at the Concacaf U-17 Women’s Championship, per TSN. He introduced the practice to Priestman, who coached the women’s U-17 and U-20 teams while Herdman was in charge of the senior team, and then continued spying when he took over as the men’s team head coach in 2018.

Most notably, the women’s team reportedly used drones to spy on Japan during the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, per TSN, when Priestman was in charge. Canada went on to win gold during that tournament, the only major title won by either the men’s or women’s senior national teams. Players on the gold medal-winning team denied seeing drone footage during the competition. Independent investigators said they did not receive information on spying during the Tokyo Games but also admitted that was not necessarily a subject of the investigation.

Herdman reportedly used drones to spy on Saint Kitts and Nevis in Nov. 2018 and the U.S. Soccer Federation knew about Herdman’s tactics as early as Jan. 2021, per ESPN. Canada also used drones to spy on Honduras before a 2022 World Cup qualifier in Sept. 2021. Things continued even after Herdman left the job in Aug. 2023, with new Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue admitting in July that the federation was “aware” of drone usage during last summer’s Copa America. Blue said that new head coach Jesse Marsch disapproved of the strategy and so no one on the team ended up seeing the footage obtained by the drone.

What’s next?

While FIFA quickly investigated Canada’s drone usage at the 2024 Olympics, it is unclear if FIFA, Concacaf or other governing bodies will open up probes into the federation’s years-long tactic of spying. Herdman remains a person of focus, especially since the findings from the independent investigators revealed that he is currently the subject of disciplinary proceedings at Canada Soccer. Though the findings did not specify why the proceedings were opened, he has reportedly continued the spying practice since taking over at MLS’ Toronto FC. Per The Athletic, Herdman’s Toronto team used drones to spy on Canadian Premier League side Forge FC in July ahead of the Canadian Championship semifinals, a tournament under Canada Soccer’s purview.