Canada’s appeal against their women football team’s points deduction at the Paris Games was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), the court said on Wednesday.
Defending champions Canada were docked six points, while coach Bev Priestman and officials Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander were banned from any football-related activity for one year by FIFA.
This was after New Zealand complained that Canadian staff flew drones over their training sessions before their opening match.
“The application filed by the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer, in relation to the six-point deduction imposed on the Canadian women’s football team for the football tournament at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, has been dismissed,” CAS said, with the reasoned decision to be published at a later date.
“The Applicants sought a decision from the CAS Ad hoc Division either cancelling or reducing the points deduction imposed by the FIFA Appeal Committee in its decision of Saturday after it established that breaches of the FIFA regulations applicable to the Olympic football tournament concerning the prohibition on flying drones over training sites had occurred.”
On Monday, Sport Canada said it was withholding funding allocated for the salaries of Priestman and the two other suspended team officials.
It said the drone scandal which has rocked the Paris Olympic football tournament was an embarrassment to all Canadians.
Canada won their first two games but are third in Group A with no points, following the deduction, behind table-topping Colombia and second-placed France, who both have three points.
Canada play Colombia later on Wednesday knowing a victory will take them into the quarter-finals, while France face bottom side New Zealand, who must win to have a chance of progress.
While Canada accepted the bans for their backroom staff, they argued the points deduction was too severe.
But the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the appeal on Wednesday.
It means Canada are on zero points heading into their final group match, having won their opening two games against France and New Zealand.
Victory against Colombia in Canada’s final group match would secure passage through to the quarter-finals.
Canada’s win may also complicate matters for Nigeria, with the west Africans up against Japan later on Wednesday.
English coach Priestman was removed as Olympic head coach on Saturday while FIFA fined Canada’s Soccer Association 175,720 pounds for the incident.
Assistant coach Andy Spence is managing the side in Priestman’s absence.(Reuters/NAN)
