Canada's appeal against the deduction of six competition points in the Olympic women’s soccer tournament has been dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The deduction was imposed by FIFA following a drone-spying scandal involving two assistant coaches who spied on New Zealand’s practices before their opening game.
The urgent verdict was delivered just hours before Canada was set to play Colombia in the final round of Group A games. Despite winning both their games against New Zealand and France, Canada found themselves in third place with zero points due to the deduction.
Head coach Bev Priestman and her two assistants were banned by FIFA for a year and removed from the Olympics by Canadian officials. The bans were not part of the appeal process at CAS, which held an urgent hearing and issued a decision confirming the six-point deduction.
Canada still has a chance to advance to the quarterfinals with a win in their upcoming match. The top two teams from each group, along with two third-placed teams, will progress to the next round.
Despite the absence of their suspended coaches, the Canadian players managed to secure victories against New Zealand and France. The six-point penalty for violating FIFA rules during the tournament is unprecedented in modern soccer.
Meanwhile, Ecuador is facing a three-point penalty in the men's 2026 World Cup qualifiers for fielding an ineligible player with falsified documents during the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The full details of the CAS decision will be published at a later date. For more updates on the Olympics, visit AP Olympics.
