Canada Soccer studying drone-spying review, says it shows past ‘unacceptable culture’ | CBC Sports

Canada Soccer says an independent review has confirmed the Paris Olympics drone-spying scandal was not an isolated misstep.

Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue says the spying “was a symptom of a past pattern of an unacceptable culture and insufficient oversight within the national teams.”

Canada Soccer announced July 31 it had retained Sonia Regenbogen from the law firm of Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark to handle the review of the Olympic incident “and subsequently, any related matters of a historic nature.”

The governing body has the document in hand but has yet to release it, saying it is reviewing the report and its conclusions. In a short statement, Blue said he expects to release “key conclusions and next steps within a week.”

Canada women’s coach Bev Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi are serving one-year FIFA suspensions in the wake of New Zealand’s Olympic Committee filing a complaint with the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit, alleging drones were flown over a pair of pre-tournament practice sessions.

Canada managed to reach the Olympic knockout round despite being docked six points for the spying scandal which also saw Canada Soccer fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($317,660 US).

The defending champion Canadians, currently ranked sixth in the world, were eliminated in the quarterfinals by No. 4 Germany in a penalty shootout.

WATCH l Emails show how an analyst pushed back against spying: