The Canadian women’s soccer team has become the centre of controversy after reports from the 2024 Paris Olympics revealed the team used a drone to observe the New Zealand soccer team’s training sessions. That has led to New Zealand’s team lodging a formal complaint with the International Olympic Committee.
Canada’s Olympic committee has since apologized for the incident and removed the head coach of the women’s soccer team, Bev Priestman, from the Canadian Olympic team. Two other team staffers have also been sent home and one has received a suspended prison sentence.
This is not the first time in history that an incident like this has occurred. Further reports indicate this incident is part of a broader pattern, suggesting that Canada’s national soccer teams have a history of using drones and other spying techniques to observe opponents’ training sessions. Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue recently revealed that the men’s team also attempted to use drones to spy on other teams at the recent Copa América championship in the United States.
