2024 Olympics: Drone spied on New Zealand footballers, Canadian team member arrested

New Zealand's women's football team training was broadcast by drone on Tuesday, July 22.

This was led by a member of the Canadian team, the future opponents of the New Zealanders.

The police arrested him and Canada apologized.

An unexpected appearance during training. While the New Zealand women's soccer team was training on Tuesday, July 22, in Saint-Etienne, the athletes were surprised to see a drone hovering over their equipment. After a report to the police, the pilot was arrested and his identity revealed. The man will be a member of the Canadian soccer team, whom the New Zealanders will face in their first match at the Olympics.

“Shocked and disappointed”

At the end of two days in police custody,The 43-year-old Canadian citizen will appear before the public prosecutor on Wednesday afternoon.He is accused of “flying a drone in a prohibited place”, announced the Saint-Étienne prosecutor, David Charmatz. The man must be tried as part of the habeas corpus procedure after previously admitting guilt, according to a source close to the investigation.

“We offer our sincere apologies to New Zealand, all players involved and the New Zealand Olympic Committee,” he added.As announced by the Canadian Olympic Committee in a press release on Wednesday, July 24, the person who piloted the drone was an unauthorized member of the Canadian team, according to this document.

Two expulsions and one withdrawal

After ensuring that it was in contact with the IOC and FIFA, the Canadian committee was also involved in several decisions. The drone pilot will return to Canada. The assistant instructor, to whom the pilot reported after this training, is no longer part of the crew and has also been sent home.

Coach Bev Priestman, who has apologized, will not coach her team in their match against New Zealand on Thursday, July 25. Finally, all Canada Soccer staff will have to undergo mandatory ethics training, while another team will have to “drone incident” It actually happened last Friday during training, according to a press release from the Canadian Olympic Committee.

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In a press release, the New Zealand Olympic Committee and the country's football association, for their part, pointed out that “Committed to respecting the integrity and honesty of the Olympic Games”They said to each other. “I am deeply shocked and disappointed by this incident, which occurred just three days before the teams were due to face each other.”

After New Zealand, the Canadians, the Olympic champions, will meet the French team on Sunday.