Canadian Olympic football team takes points deduction dispute to CAS

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.

CAS, sport's highest court, said a hearing was "likely to take place" on Tuesday with a verdict expected 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.

As it stands they must beat Colombia on Wednesday if they are to advance to the quarter-finals as they seek to repeat their gold medal triumph at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

Priestman issued a letter of apology on Sunday and said she was "absolutely heartbroken" over the affair.

Assistant coach Andy Spence, who like Priestman is from England, was put in interim charge of the team for Sunday’s game against France, which Canada won 2-1 thanks to a Vanessa Gilles goal in the 12th minute of injury time.

"I think it is incredibly unfair to penalise the players in this way. The players had absolutely no control over the situation," captain Jessie Fleming said of the points deduction.

"I think it has brought us closer (together). It feels like us against the world right now," she added.