The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed Canada’s appeal against a six-point punishment in the Women’s Football event following the Spygate scandal.
The Canadian Olympic Committee lodged the appeal, requesting either a cancellation or reduction of the sanction, and claimed it “unfairly punishes the athletes for actions they had no part in and goes far beyond restoring fairness to the match against New Zealand.”
The punishment was first issued by FIFA after Team Canada was found to have used a drone to spy on a New Zealand training session ahead of their meeting at the Olympic Games.
Given the need for a quick decision, CAS did not give grounds for their verdict and said “the full award will be published at a later date’.
Olympics drone spying scandal: Canada’s 6-point deduction in women’s football stands after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejects appeal.
The defending Olympic champions could still reach the quarterfinals pic.twitter.com/Al56ct8Mbe
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) July 31, 2024
Coach Bev Priestman, assistant Jasmine Mander as well as analyst Joseph Lombardi were banned for 12 months by FIFA for their part in the incident. Canada did not appeal those sanctions.
Today’s announcement means this evening’s Group A games can go ahead without any uncertainty about future changes to standings.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer thank the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s Ad Hoc Committee for its expedited process in hearing this case,” a statement from the COC said Wednesday. “While disappointed in the outcome of our appeal, we commend the players for their incredible resilience and grit over the course of this tournament, and look forward to cheering them on in today’s match against Colombia.”
Despite their penalty, defending gold medalists Canada can still advance to the quarter-finals having won their opening two pool games against New Zealand and hosts France.
They head into the game against Colombia in Nice knowing a win will be enough for them to go through.
Defender Kadeisha Buchanan said: “This team is very resilient. We’ve been able to rely on each and every one of us to do our job. We believed in ourselves. I think there’s still a chance of qualifying. We’ll do our best to get the result we need.”
