The Canadian women will finish 2024 unchanged at No. 6 in the FIFA rankings, looking to put the drone-spying scandal at the Paris Olympics finally behind them.
Canada lost its Olympic title and head coach Bev Priestman in Paris, with Priestman sent home and ultimately severed from the program along with assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi after a Canadian staffer was caught filming a New Zealand training session.
WATCH | Priestman won’t return as Canada’s coach:
Bev Priestman is out as the head coach of Canada’s women’s soccer team, following an independent report into drone spying at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Canada Soccer says assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi are also gone.
All three are serving a one-year FIFA ban, with Canada Soccer still probing just how deep the culture of cheating was ingrained in the men’s and women’s programs.
The U.S., which won the inaugural CONCACAF W Gold Cup in March before claiming Olympic gold in Paris in August under new coach Emma Hayes, remain No. 1 having displaced World Cup champion Spain at the top of the table after the Olympic triumph.
Spain and Germany each rose one place, to No. 2 and No 3 respectively, in the new rankings with England slipping two spots to No 4.
Unchanged Sweden and Canada followed with Brazil moving to No. 7, dropping Japan to No. 8. North Korea remained at No. 9 with the Netherlands moving up one place to No. 10, dropping France to No. 11 — out of the top 10 for the first time.
WATCH l Emails show how an analyst pushed back against spying:
Canadian soccer coaches were so ‘obsessed’ with obtaining information about their opponents that they would pressure employees to take part in spying activities, Radio-Canada has learned. Sources within Canada Soccer say the drone scandal at the Paris Olympics was not the first incident.
