A Toronto sports analytics expert says Canada Soccer should fight the point deduction the women’s soccer team received at the Paris Olympics, following the removal of the head coach and two staffers for spying on another team.
On Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s special Olympic Court in Paris confirmed it has received the appeal from Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) to get some of the point deduction from Canadian women’s soccer team removed or reduced.
FIFA docked the points on Saturday in wake of a team analyst caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand’s practices that made international headlines last week.
Among the three coaching staff members that have been banned from the team for one year include Canadian women’s soccer Head Coach Bev Priestman, along with her two assistants Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander.
“The appeal is based on the disproportionality of the sanction, which we believe unfairly punishes the athletes for actions they had no part in and goes far beyond restoring fairness to the match against New Zealand. The appeal has been submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s Ad Hoc Tribunal in Paris for the Olympic Games, which allows matters to be heard on an expedited basis during the Games,’ COC said in a statement.
According to media outlets, a closed-door hearing before a panel of three judges will likely be held Tuesday with a ruling expected Wednesday.
Joseph Baker, Tanenbaum Chair in Sport Science, Data Modelling and Sport Analytics at the University of Toronto, said the appeal is not surprising.
“I think this kind of behaviour has to have strict penalties if FIFA is going to try to control it in the future. That said, it was a very strict penalty on the gold medal winning team from the previous Olympics. No question that the Canadian team and the COC should challenge the penalty; it’s within their rights to do this, and given the potential impact on the team’s standing in Paris, this makes sense,” he told Now Toronto in an email statement.
“I think the class and emotion of the team in how they’ve handled this have done a lot to salvage any reputational damage. The unfortunate thing is that the behaviour of any one team member often reflects on the whole team, regardless of their knowledge or intent,” Baker added.
Athletes’ Commission also shared a positive message on X for Canada’s Women’s Soccer team.
Madeleine Orr, assistant professor, Sports Ecology, shared her sympathy for the team.
“My heart is with the athletes in this moment who are facing down a harsh punishment for actions taken by their coaching staff. I’m committing my energy to supporting them.”
“I’m more interested to see what the two governing bodies do next with regard to not only this cheating scandal, but the rampant abuse and athlete maltreatment that is sadly so common in our sport system. Compared to these other issues, the cheating is less important to me,” Orr added.
On Wednesday, Canada’s Group A finale will be played against Colombia in Nice, France.
