FIFA ruling stands: Canada will keep six-point penalty heading into do-or-die Olympic match

The Canadian women’s soccer team had its appeal dismissed by the Court of Sport Arbitration’s ad hoc division in Paris on Wednesday, putting the squad in another do-or-die game later this evening against Columbia.

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer, which filed the appeal against FIFA’s sanction Monday, expressed its disappointment in the outcome in a statement Wednesday afternoon while thanking the court’s division for its expedited process in hearing the case.

“We commend the players for their incredible resilience and grit over the course of this tournament and look forward to cheering them on (against Colombia),” they wrote.

The CAS’s decision was made by a panel of arbitrators including president Roberto Moreno of Paraguay, Philippe Sands of Great Britain/France and Egyptian Laila El Shentenawi.

FIFA’s appeal committee ruled last Saturday that the Canadian team breached the world body’s regulations applicable to the Olympic tournament concerning the “prohibition on flying drones over training sites” in the lead-up to the opener against New Zealand. The penalty was a six-point reduction in the group stage of the event, one-year suspensions from all football-related activity for head coach Bev Priestman and staffers Joey Lombardi and Jasmine Mander and a fine equivalent to almost $313,000 (CAD).

The Canadian applicants argued to reduce or outright cancel the six-point deduction FIFA imposed but did not request relief to the bans or fine. The hearing took place Tuesday.

Canada took the stance that the six points was too severe a punishment for the athletes who had no part in the drone usage and went “far beyond restoring fairness to the match against New Zealand”.

Canada won that game 2-1 and then, after the sanctions were announced, defeated host and world No. 2 ranked France 2-1 Sunday in Saint-Etienne.

Their final group game is Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET against Colombia in Nice.