Canada Appeals FIFA's Six-Point Deduction for Drone Incident

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hold a hearing on Tuesday to consider an appeal by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Canada Soccer of a six-point deduction imposed by FIFA on the Canada women's team for the Olympic tournament.

In a statement on Monday, the Switzerland-based court said it would announce a decision likely by Wednesday morning, the day of Canada's next match against Colombia.

FIFA's decision on Saturday cited Canada's violation of rules concerning offensive behaviour and fair play. The incident involved a drone flying over a closed practice of the New Zealand women's team in Sainte-Étienne.

FIFA also imposed one-year suspensions from any football-related activity for head coach Beverly Priestman, team analyst Joseph Lombardi, and assistant coach Jasmine Mander. The court said the Canadian associations have not appealed the suspensions.

Canada has won its first two games of the tournament, but the points deduction will make it next to impossible to advance to the medal round.

In a statement, the COC said the appeal was based on what it called "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."

Soccer fans across Canada have expressed shock and anger over the drone scandal. The outcome of the CAS hearing will be closely watched by the Canadian team and its supporters.