Canadian women's soccer team staffer given suspended prison sentence over drone incident, prosecutor says

A Canada women’s soccer team staff member has been given a suspended prison sentence. (Kevin Voigt / Getty Images)

A Canada women’s soccer team staff member has been given an eight-month suspended prison sentence after flying a drone to film the closed-door training session of the New Zealand women’s soccer team on Monday, the Saint-Etienne prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) formally apologized Wednesday after the New Zealand Olympic Committee lodged a complaint that its women’s soccer team practice was recorded by a drone in Saint-Étienne, a city 400 kilometres south of the French capital, where the match will be played.

• Canada's men's and women's soccer teams have relied on drones and spying for years: sources

Defending Olympic champion Canada is set to play New Zealand on Thursday in a group-stage game.

The COC later announced that two members of the Canadian Olympic Team would be sent home immediately: Joseph Lombardi, who the COC says is an “unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer,” and assistant coach Jasmine Mander, who Lombardi sent his report to.

Additionally, the COC said it will accept head coach Bev Priestman’s offer to “remove herself from coaching the match against New Zealand.”

According to the Saint-Etienne prosecutor’s office, on Monday, July 22, police on the scene “were informed by the supervisor of the Olympic training sites located in Saint-Etienne of the presence of a drone hovering in the air above the stadium,” after being warned by the New Zealand soccer team manager, who the prosecutor said suspended training as a result

“The police then proceeded to detain the drone pilot who turned out to be a Canadian national, aged 43, who had actually filmed the closed-door training session of the New Zealand women’s team using a drone camera,” the statement said without naming the individual in question.

It added that after being placed in custody, the individual claimed that “he was a sports coach for teams of young soccer players in Canada and was in France as part of other functions as an independent sports analyst, working for the Canadian football federation.”

The prosecutor’s office said that the drone was later seized along with other electronic devices in his hotel room, adding that on Saturday, July 20, there had been another drone recording of New Zealand’s team practice.

The statement said that, in the presence of his lawyer, after admitting to the facts, “he accepted his sentence of an 8-month suspended prison sentence.” It added that the Canadian team’s assistant coach – who the statement did not name – was also questioned.