Sun | Nov 3, 2024

Canada loses its appeal against a points deduction for drone spying in Olympic women's football

Published:Wednesday | July 31, 2024 | 10:03 AM
Canada's players celebrate after Vanessa Gille, bottom center, scored her side's second goal during the women's Group A football match between Canada and France at Geoffroy-Guichard stadium during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Saint-Etienne, France. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

PARIS (AP) — Canada lost its appeal against the deduction of six competition points following a drone-spying scandal in the Olympic women's football tournament.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday said its panel of three judges dismissed Canada's appeal and confirmed the six-point deduction imposed Saturday by FIFA.

Two assistant coaches used drones to spy on New Zealand's practices last week before their opening game.

The urgent verdict was delivered less than eight hours before defending Olympic champion Canada was scheduled to play Colombia at Nice in the final round of games in Group A.

Canada was third in the standings with zero points despite winning both its games, against New Zealand and France.

Canada can still advance to the quarterfinals with a win Wednesday that would lift the team into first or second place. The top two in each of the three groups advance, plus two third-placed teams.

Head coach Bev Priestman and her two assistants were banned by FIFA for a year after being removed from the Olympics by Canadian officials.

Their bans were not part of the fast-track appeal judged at the CAS Olympic court in Paris, which held an urgent hearing Tuesday.

The court gave just the decision Wednesday and said "the full award with grounds will be published at a later date."

Without their suspended coaches being involved in the games, the Canadian players beat New Zealand 2-1 and then stunned host France on Sunday in a comeback 2-1 win sealed by scoring in the 12th minute of stoppage time.

The six-point penalty for an in-tournament violation of FIFA rules is unprecedented in modern football.

A three-point penalty is currently applying to Ecuador in qualifying for the men's 2026 World Cup in South America. That sanction was imposed by CAS judges and carried over from Ecuador fielding an ineligible player with falsified documents in the team's successful qualifying programme for the 2022 World Cup.

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