Priestman emails show Canada Soccer spying may have been regular practice

Emails released by FIFA indicate drone usage for the purposes of spying may have been a common practice across Canada Soccer's senior national teams.

The international soccer federation released a document dated July 28 regarding punishment levied against the national federation after an analyst was caught operating a drone to spy on a New Zealand practice ahead of their Olympic opener on July 25. Canada won that game, 2-1.

Included within the document is an internal March 20 message from women's head coach Bev Priestman regarding "spying." All redactions were made by FIFA.

"It's something the analyst has always done and I know there is a whole operation on the men's side with regards to it (we had [redacted] in with us recently and he was outstanding in this area)," the message reads. 

"Yesterday in a meeting when discussing, I asked [redacted] to propose a [sic] alternative solution as for scouting it can be the difference between winning and losing and all top 10 teams do it."

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The sanctions against Canada Soccer included a six-point penalty, which the federation appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport denied the appeal on Wednesday.

In a statement, Canada Soccer said it is "disappointed with today's appeal decision and continue to believe that our players should not have been unnecessarily punished for actions that were not their own."

As for its own investigation, the federation "will start the review by initially focusing on actions taken by Canada Soccer representatives related to the incident at the Olympic Games."

Additionally, Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi were all sent home from the Olympics by the Canadian Olympic Committee following the New Zealand revelation, and FIFA later suspended all three from soccer activities for a year. Canada Soccer did not appeal those punishments.

Priestman's email came after she received a communication from a performance analyst that was "unwilling" to engage in "spying."

In that message, the analyst listed three reasons for her objection to the practice in bullet points: "morally; my own reputation within the analysis field; [and] potentially being unable to fulfil my role on a matchday.

Priestman's ensuing email, whose recipient was redacted in the FIFA release, was "seeking advice" on the analyst's rejection of the practice.

"I received this more 'formal' email this morning and so just after guidance really as to what from a [sic] HR stand point [sic] I can do or do I need to find another solution in resourcing? It's a tricky one and it's formal for a reason I feel…," Priestman wrote.