Canadian Women’s Soccer Team Caught Spying on Opponent With Drone Ahead of Olympics

Kristen Wong | Jul 24, 2024

Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

The women’s soccer competition at the Paris Olympics is already heating up.

Two staff members of the Canadian women’s Olympic soccer team have been sent home following an investigation over a spy drone incident earlier this week. On Monday, days before Canada and New Zealand would play their Olympic opener, a drone was spotted flying over the New Zealand women’s soccer team’s training session in Saint-Etienne, France. 

New Zealand staffers reported the drone to French authorities, who later detained the operator, Joseph Lombardi, a non-accredited analyst working with Canada Soccer. 

The Canadian Olympic Committee confirmed Lombardi had used a drone to record New Zealand’s training session and issued an apology on Wednesday. The Committee added that Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, the assistant coach who oversees Lombardi, were being removed from the team and sent home. The rest of Canada Soccer’s staff will undergo mandatory ethics training.

Canada head coach Bec Priestman also self-imposed a one-game suspension and will sit out of Thursday’s opener against New Zealand. 

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologize to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada,” Priestman said in a statement. “This does not represent the values that our team stands for.

Canada and New Zealand are in Group A along with France and Colombia. Canada, the reigning Olympic women’s soccer champions, won their first-ever gold in the Tokyo 2020 Games and is currently ranked eighth in the world.