"Disproportionate"

Drone scandal: Canada defends itself against points deduction

Drones at the Olympics(Bild: AP/Silvia Izquierdo, tostphoto – stock.adobe.com)

Canada has appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport against the deduction of six points in the Olympic women's soccer tournament due to the drone spying incident. This was announced by the CAS and a decision was announced for Wednesday.

Canada's Olympic Committee COC considers the penalty to be "disproportionate".

Before Canada's opening game at the Summer Games against New Zealand (2:1), there had been a scandal because a drone had been used twice during the opponents' training session. The COC eventually admitted this. In addition to the points deduction, national coach Bev Priestman, assistant Jasmine Mander and video analyst Joseph Lombardi were each banned from all soccer activities by FIFA for one year. The Canadians no longer wish to appeal against these bans.

Two wins, but zero points
Should the points deduction remain in place, Canada would still be in a poor starting position in the battle to progress from Group A, despite also winning their second match against hosts France. Colombia and France lead the table with three points each.