Canada Soccer CEO hopes to avoid sanctions despite potential 'systemic' spying

Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue urged FIFA and the International Olympic Committee not to deduct points from Canada's women's soccer team over the spying scandal that forced the program to suspend head coach Bev Priestman.

Blue told reporters on a web conference Friday he hasn't considered withdrawing the team from the Olympics in Paris "because we feel we have handled the situation swiftly and thoroughly."

While the former Golf Canada executive, who took the job in March, said he was investigating the potentially "systemic ethical shortcoming" that has thrown the program into disarray, he emphasized the players on Canada's current roster have done nothing wrong.

"The players themselves have not been involved in any unethical behavior, and frankly we ask FIFA to take that into consideration if contemplating any further sanctions," Blue said. "Specifically, we do not feel that a deduction of points in this tournament would be fair to our players, particularly in light of the significant and immediate steps we've taken to address this situation."

The issue of spying - which emerged after a staff member was caught using a drone to capture footage of New Zealand's training sessions before Canada's opening win over the Kiwis on Thursday - also spread to the men's team. Blue said there was "attempted drone usage" during the men's run to the Copa America semifinals earlier this month but stressed it was a "significantly different" case and didn't impact any result.

Blue said men's head coach Jesse Marsch learned about the drone after it happened and "forcefully" denounced its use to staff.

Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker conceded that the latest information - including a report from TSN's Rick Westhead that Canada had used drones to spy on opponents at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - could tarnish the women's gold medal-winning performance there.

"It makes me ill," Shoemaker told reporters in France. "It makes me sick to my stomach to think there could be something that calls into question what I'm sure so many of you have heard me say over the course of the last three years, one of my favorite Olympic moments in history, that women's team winning that gold medal against all odds and those COVID restrictions."

Stephanie Labbe, who saved two penalty kicks in the shootout win over Sweden in the final in Tokyo, denied using drone footage to determine which way her opponents shot. Labbe saved two other spot-kicks in the quarterfinal shootout win over Brazil.

"I studied HARD the night before every match," she wrote on X. "Watched videos of players taking PKs in national team and club games. Made my own educated guesses based on that info. NO DRONE FOOTAGE was watched. Do not confuse great goalkeeping with cheating."

Christine Sinclair, who scored an international-record 190 goals in 331 games for Canada, called the actions "condemnable" and ones which the players "have no control over."

"I want to be clear that having been a national team player for 23 years, we were never shown or discussed drone footage in team or individual meetings I've been present for," she added.