Paris 2024 Olympics - Football - Women's Group A - Canada vs New Zealand - Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium, Saint-Etienne, France - July 25, 2024. Canada players line up during the national anthems before the match. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
PARIS (Reuters) - Canadian players have not been involved in any unethical behaviour, Canada Soccer chief Kevin Blue said on Friday in the wake of a drone spying scandal that led to the sacking of women's national team coach Bev Priestman at the Paris Olympics.
Canada Soccer is hoping world governing body FIFA does not consider sanctions against the country's national team players amid investigations into systemic drone spying by staff members from the men's and women's national teams.
"We admire deeply the will and determination of this group," CEO & General Secretary Blue told reporters. "The players themselves have not been involved in any unethical behaviour and frankly we ask FIFA to take that into consideration."
"Behaviour in the ethical grey area is completely unacceptable to Canadians ... to me personally, it's completely unacceptable as a leader."
Canadian media have reported that both of the country's senior teams have relied on drones and spying for years.
The men's team qualified for their first World Cup in 36 years in 2022, while the women's side won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Blue added that he had received "anecdotal feedback" related to drone use by Canada during last month's Copa America semi-final run and that coach Jesse Marsch was aware of it.
"I am aware of an instance of attempted drone usage at the Copa America," he said. "I have spoken with our current head coach about the incident after it occurred and I know he denounced it as a practice to his staff.
"Of course there's going to be a significant, thorough review as we proceed with the investigation."
The Canadian Olympic Committee said on Thursday that the women's team will be led by assistant coach Andy Spence for the remainder of the Paris Games.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
