The world’s preeminent authority on sport has rejected an appeal by the Canadian Olympic Committee to reverse a sanction against the women’s national soccer team, stripping them of six points in the group stage.
Despite the adversity, the women’s national soccer team advanced out of the group stage to qualify for the Olympic tournament’s quarterfinal stage.
Last week, it was revealed that Canada Soccer had engaged in a scheme to illegally spy on the New Zealand women’s soccer team by flying a drone over the team’s training session while recording footage of the practice.
This was not an isolated incident, as whistleblowers revealed that Canada Soccer on both the men’s and women’s teams have been spying on their opponents by flying drones over their training sessions for years, even dating back to the women’s team’s gold medal run in the 2021 Olympics.
The spying scheme unraveled as Team Canada staff member Joseph Lombardi was arrested by French officials after getting caught flying a drone over the New Zealand team’s practice on two occasions.
Lombardi and the women’s soccer team’s assistant coach Jasmine Mander were initially implicated in the scheme and sanctioned, but Canada Soccer also suspended head coach Bev Priestman for her involvement in the scheme.
In light of the allegations, FIFA swiftly imposed a one-year ban on Priestman, Mander, and Lombardi, imposed a $317,063 fine on the team, and imposed a six point deduction from the women’s team in the group stage.
The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer appealed the automatic point deduction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the forum to appeal controversial sport decisions created by the International Olympic Committee.
The Court of Arbitration and Sport dismissed the Canadian Olympic Committee’s appeal, with the court planning to release their reasons for dismissal on a later date.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer thank the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s Ad Hoc Committee for its expedited process in hearing this case,” reads the Canadian Olympic Committee’s statement on the ruling.
“While disappointed in the outcome of our appeal, we commend the players for their incredible resilience and grit over the course of this tournament, and look forward to cheering them on in today’s match against Colombia.”
In the tournament’s group stage, each team plays three games where the winner of a match is rewarded three points, a draw at one point, and no points in a loss.
Despite starting at -6 points in the group stage, Canada’s women’s soccer team beat all odds, winning all three group stage games to place second in the group stage and earn a spot in the tournament’s quarterfinal.
Canada beat New Zealand 2-1, France 2-1, and Columbia 1-0 to place second in a group that they ordinarily would have placed first in.
Canada will play Germany in the quarterfinals on Saturday.