Suspended Bev Priestman makes first public comments in wake of drone-spying scandal

Suspended soccer coach Bev Priestman has broken her silence, saying she hopes something positive comes out of the ongoing Canadian drone-spying scandal.

“I hope out of a really tough situation, this is a turning point for our game,” she wrote in an Instagram post via her verified account. “There has been a standard and precedent set now, irrespective of gender, tournament or associated revenues that will hopefully clean up our game.”

She did not address her role in the affair in the six-paragraph post.

Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi are all serving one-year FIFA bans for their role in the scandal, which saw the Canada women’s team use a drone to spy on two New Zealand training sessions at the Olympics.

Canada Soccer says the three won’t be back in the wake of the recent independent report into the scandal. Lombardi is already gone, having resigned his position after the Olympics.

“The findings of the independent investigator reveal that the incident itself was a symptom of a difficult and unacceptable past culture within the national teams,” Canada Soccer chief executive officer and general secretary Kevin Blue and president and board chair Peter Augruso said in a statement when the report was released earlier this month.

Canada Soccer continues to investigate the roots of the spying scandal and has initiated a disciplinary process against former men’s and women’s coach John Herdman, currently coach of Toronto FC.

The governing body has said it “has initiated a proceeding with respect to Mr. Herdman under its Disciplinary Code.”

Herdman did not speak to Sonia Regenbogen, who wrote the report.

Priestman signed a new contract in January that runs through the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The 38-year-old Priestman took over the Canadian women on Nov. 1, 2020, and was initially appointed “through the next quadrennial.” She had been working on a rolling contract — until the new deal.

“It has and will continue to take some time to process, heal, find the right words and step back into a public setting but I felt I should say something irrespective of ongoing circumstances,” Priestman wrote.

In addition to the suspensions, FIFA docked the Canadian women six points in the group stage at the Olympics and fined Canada Soccer 200,000 Swiss francs ($312,815).

Despite that, defending champion Canada still managed to make the knockout round before losing a penalty shootout to Germany in the quarterfinals.

“I know that amazing group was ready to reach the top again this summer, but in many ways what they did was even more special under such difficult circumstances,” Priestman wrote.

She also thanked those who had reached out to her.

“You continue to help me through some dark days,” she said.

Canadian under-20 coach Cindy Tye has been named interim coach for the sixth-ranked Canadians’ upcoming friendlies in Spain against Iceland and South Korea.