Canada loses appeal, as drone-spying scandal could spread to 2026 World Cup

Canadian soccer officials admitted in evidence to FIFA that spying on opponents was routinely done, for the men’s national team as well as the women’s team, which has been punished for using drones at the Paris Olympics.

The drone-spying scandal threatens to spread beyond the Olympics, where Canada is the defending women’s champion, to the men’s team at the 2026 World Cup.

Canada is one of the 2026 World Cup home teams, co-hosting the 48-team tournament with the United States and Mexico.

Canada lost its appeal Wednesday at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a six-point penalty imposed by the sport's world governing body for spying on New Zealand practices ahead of their opening game last week.

The urgent verdict was published just hours before Canada — on zero points despite winning its first two games, against New Zealand and France — plays Colombia at Nice.

While Canada’s players can revive their Olympic title hopes on the field, the damage to the country's reputation for soccer integrity was hit hard Wednesday — and risks further damage from spinoff investigations.

FIFA on Wednesday published its judge’s document with detailed evidence to explain the sweeping Olympic punishments.

Canada’s appeal to CAS failed to overturn an unprecedented six-point deduction in the Group A standings, a 200,000 Swiss francs ($227,000) fine and one-year bans from global soccer for head coach Bev Priestman, an assistant coach and a performance analyst who flew the spying drone.

Spying was something the Canada women’s team "has ‘always done’ and it was the ‘difference between winning and losing,’" FIFA appeals judge Neil Eggleston wrote in a 26-page document detailing evidence and witness statements to help explain the verdict.

Act