PARIS: Canada appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday over the decision to dock them six points in the on-going women’s Paris Olympic football over a spying scandal.

The Swiss-based CAS said that Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee had filed an appeal against the punishment handed down by football’s world governing body FIFA at the weekend.

The CAS said a hearing was “likely to take place” on Tuesday with a verdict expected on Wednesday.

Reigning Olympic champions Canada were docked six points and fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,000) by FIFA after a staff member used a drone to spy on a rival team’s training session last week.

Analyst Joey Lombardi was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and sent home by the team after being caught flying the drone over a New Zealand training session ahead of the game between the sides, which Canada won 2-1.

Coach Bev Priestman and assistant coach Jasime Mander were banned by FIFA from all football-related activities for one year, along with Lombardi. The appeal to CAS does not relate to those bans, only to the points deduction. Canada’s women have won both of their matches so far at the Paris Games, against New Zealand and France, but the penalty means they have zero points with only one Group ‘A’ game remaining.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2024