Canadian Women’s Soccer Team Deducted 6 Points Over Drone Spy Scandal

The Canadian Women’s Soccer team has been deducted 6 points in the women’s Olympic soccer tournament, and their coach Bev Pressman has been banned for a year. This comes as a result of the Canadian women’s team allegedly using a drone to spy on their opponents. We do not know how long they have been doing this.

An investigation is underway as to whether the Canadian men’s team also used drones to spy on their opponents. There was apparently drone usage by the Canadian men in the Copa America, but Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said ‘the potential impact on the competitive integrity of a match was not at risk.’

TSN reported that Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have relied on spying for years. While former Canadian men’s soccer team manager John Herdman has denied the usage of drones, an investigation could prove that statement not to be true.

For Canada, a relatively small sporting nation, overshadowed by the United States, the most successful sporting nation in the world, this hits especially hard. A nation often described as the United States’ 51st state does not often have any sporting success outside of hockey. One of the (somewhat) major achievements Canada had was winning the Olympic women’s soccer gold medal in 2021. This drone scandal calls the legitimacy of that gold into question.

How far does this go within Canada Soccer? Only time will tell.