Police called after Kiwis report soccer rivals Canada over drone spying at Olympics
New Zealand’s Olympic team has lodged a complaint with the IOC after discovering a drone belonging to soccer rivals Canada seemingly spying on their training session.
Staff from New Zealand’s women’s soccer team - the Football Ferns - noticed a drone flying above their training session in St Etienne on Monday.
Reporting it to police, the operator was identified as a supporting staff member of Canada’s women’s team.
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Canada are the reigning Olympic champions and New Zealand’s first opponents at the Paris Games, on Friday morning (AEST).
A statement issued by the New Zealand Olympic Committee said they were “deeply shocked and disappointed by this incident” and wanted answers.
“The NZOC has formally lodged the incident with the IOC integrity unit and has asked Canada for a full review,” the statement read.
“The NZOC and New Zealand Football are committed to upholding the integrity and fairness of the Olympic Games.”
In their own statement, Team Canada apologised and said they’d opened their own investigation into a “non-accredited member of the Canada Soccer support team”.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair-play and we are shocked and disappointed,” it read.
“We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee.”
Canada’s Olympic Committee is liaising with Canada Soccer, the IOC, the Paris Games organising committee and FIFA over “next steps” from the incident.
New Zealand and Canada will kick off this year’s Olympic women’s soccer tournament at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, with this incident re-casting the clash as a grudge match.
