Former Canadian Women’s National Team head coach Bev Priestman made her first public statement since being let go by Canada Soccer on Friday night. The former coach was let go following an investigation into the “drone-gate” scandal which took place during the summer Olympics.
“It has and will continue to take some time to process, heal, find the right words and step back in to a public setting but I felt I should say something irrespective of ongoing circumstances,” Priestman wrote on her Instagram account.
“From the highest of highs of winning gold in Tokyo 2021 to the low of this summer, interspersed with a really tough 2023 equality battle, it’s safe to say it’s been a journey.”
“I hope out of a really tough situation this is a turning point for our game. There has been a standard and precedent set now, irrespective of gender, tournament or associated revenues that will hopefully clean up our game.”
“I know that amazing group, was ready to reach the top again this summer but in many ways what they did was even more special under such difficult circumstances.”
“To the people around the world that see a person behind a public figure who have checked in, some who really didn’t have to but did, thank you. You continue to help me through some dark days.”
“To my family, I couldn’t have got through this without you.”
Canada would go on to be eliminated in the quarterfinals by Germany after putting forth a Herculean effort to qualify for the knockout stages after being penalized by FIFA. Canadian U-20 coach Cindy Tye will serve as interim head coach for the program while the Canadian side takes on Iceland (Nov 29th) and South Korea (Dec 3rd) over the next few weeks.
Photo: Robin Glover. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.