PARIS, France — Despite a scandal involving the use of drones to spy on opponents that resulted in an historic six-point deduction, the Canada women's soccer team has advanced to the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics.
Team Canada, which features Seattle Reign stalwarts Jordyn Huitema and Quinn, beat Colombia 1-0 on Wednesday to complete a perfect group stage for the team. Canada was deducted six points and had its head coach and two other support staff members sent home from Paris after being caught using a drone to fly over the practice of its first opponent, New Zealand.
It all began for Team Canada when analyst Joseph Lombardi was detained by French police on July 22. He was held for three days and sentenced to an eight-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty.
Flying a drone over an Olympic competition site was prohibited in France, and the New Zealand team had alerted security officials at its training site in Saint-Etienne. Lombardi admitted he also filmed the July 20 practice.
“I was non-accredited and wanted to impress the Canadian women’s technical staff with informed/accurate analysis to elevate my role for future opportunities,” Lombardi said in evidence to FIFA.
Team Canada was punished with an unprecedented six-point deduction, a $227,000 fine and one-year bans from global soccer for head coach Bev Priestman, an assistant coach and Lombardi. It appealed, but the ruling was upheld on Wednesday.
"Spying was something the Canada women’s team “has ‘always done’ and it was the ‘difference between winning and losing,’” FIFA appeals judge Neil Eggleston wrote in a 26-page document detailing evidence and witness statements to help explain the verdict.
“I am absolutely heartbroken for the players, and I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the impact this situation has had on all of them,” Priestman said in a statement. “As the leader of the team on the field, I want to take accountability, and I plan to fully cooperate with the investigation.”
Both Huitema and Quinn started two of Canada's three Olympic group-stage games. The two Reign players were also part of Canada's Tokyo Olympics team that brought home a gold medal.
No individual players were implicated in the various punishments against Canada Soccer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
