Details emerge of Canada Soccer's 'obsessed' culture of drone spying
CBC
Canadian soccer coaches with both the men's and women's teams were so "obsessed" with obtaining information about their opponents that they would pressure employees to take part in spying activities, Radio-Canada has learned.
Those spying activities were pervasive years before coaches were caught using a drone to spy on an opponent during the 2024 Paris Olympics, according to new information obtained by Radio-Canada's Enquête.
Over the past few months, Radio-Canada spoke to around 20 former players, managers, agents, coaches and employees with links to Canada Soccer. Radio-Canada is not revealing their identities because they all fear professional reprisals.
The sources said that what happened in France — when a Canada Soccer employee affiliated with the women's national team was caught flying a drone over a New Zealand team practice — is just the "tip of the iceberg."
The sources described a culture of spying inside the organization that dates back years to when John Herdman coached the women's national team.
Canada Soccer suspected it was Herdman who started using drones to spy on opponents, according to statements submitted to FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by Canada Soccer.
Multiple sources said the coaches of the men's national team have been using drones for spying purposes since Herdman took over in 2018, continuing practices he had used in the past.
Radio-Canada sources also said he passed the practice down to his successor, Bev Priestman, who is currently suspended awaiting the results of an independent review commissioned by Canada Soccer into drone spying at the organization.
The results of that review are expected to be shared with the public this week.
"'Bev [Priestman] worked with John [Herdman] and he was a mentor to her," said one former member of the Canadian women's team. "Drones were an essential part of her preparation."
Herdman began coaching the women's team in 2011 and led them to back-to-back bronze medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. During this time, Bev Priestman, originally from England, was one of his assistants. She became head coach of the national women's team in 2020 earning them a gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Games.
The former player said drones were "systemic" and Priestman was "obsessed with having information about her opponent."
Herdman moved on to oversee Canada Soccer's men's programs in 2018, including the national team.
Only a few months after Herdman became coach of the men's national team in November 2018, sources told Radio-Canada he had the national team spy on the small island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, whose national team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup.
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