Canada women’s national soccer team head coach Bev Priestman has been suspended after one of her staff members allegedly used a drone to capture footage of another team during practice, authorities said.

The Canadian Olympic Committee announced on Friday, July 26, that Priestman had been “removed” from the Canadian Olympic Team following a “suspension” decision issued by the Canadian Football Federation following the allegations.

“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding the use of drones against competitors ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer CEO and Secretary General Kevin Blue said in a news release.

“In light of these new revelations, the Canadian Soccer Federation has made the decision to suspend Head Coach of the Women’s National Soccer Team, Bev Priestman, for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and pending the completion of our recently announced independent external review,” Blue concluded in a statement.

Canadian Soccer Federation assistant coach Andy Spence will take over the women’s national soccer team for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games following Priestman’s suspension.

This comes after the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) reported that a drone was flown over the football team’s training session in St Etienne the day before on July 23. The team said they reported the incident to police and the drone operator, “widely identified as a member of support staff for the Canada Women’s Football Team”, was “detained”.

The team said it had “formally escalated the incident to the IOC integrity unit” and also “asked Canada for a full investigation.” The NZOC and New Zealand Football Team said in a statement that they were “committed to upholding the integrity and fairness of the Olympic Games and were deeply shocked and disappointed by this incident.”

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According to NBC News, Priestman did not play in Canada’s match against New Zealand on Thursday, July 25. Priestman released a statement saying his decision was made to “underscore our team’s commitment to integrity.”

He also issued an apology in a statement, according to NBC News: “This does not represent the values ​​our team stands for. I am ultimately responsible for the behavior on our program.”

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Last year’s Olympic champions, Canada, beat New Zealand 2-1 in their opening Group A match.

Two other Canadian Football Team staff members, head coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi, also did not play during the game and were sent home, according to NBC News and USA Today.

In a separate statement, the Canadian Olympic Committee said Canadian Football Team personnel will undergo “ethics training,” according to NBC News.