Embattled Canadian women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman apologized Sunday for the spying scandal that roiled the Paris Olympic campaign and promised to cooperate with an investigation.

Priestman said in a letter from her lawyers, published by Canadian media, that she was “absolutely devastated” for her players.

It was released just before the team, the reigning Olympic champions, secured a dramatic 2-1 victory over hosts France to keep their Paris Olympic hopes alive.

Canada was stripped six points by FIFA and coach Priestman was banned for a year after a staff member used a drone to spy on a rival team’s training session last week.

The staff member, analyst Joey Lombardi, was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and sent home from the Olympics along with assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Priestman.

Britain’s Priestman was also suspended by Canada before FIFA made its ruling.

“I am deeply saddened for the players and would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the impact this situation has had on all of them,” Priestman said in the letter.

“I know how hard they have worked after a very difficult year in 2023, and that they are a group of people who value sportsmanship and integrity.

“As the leader of the team on the field, I want to take responsibility and I intend to cooperate fully with the investigation.”

The punishment leaves Canada with zero points after two games in Group A of the Olympic tournament, despite having won both games so far.

They opened their campaign with a 2-1 victory over New Zealand, the team whose training sessions were targeted by the drone.

That meant they had to beat France on Sunday to stay in the race, which they did with Vanessa Gilles scoring in the 12th minute of injury time to secure a thrilling victory.

Another win over Colombia on Wednesday could be enough for them to reach the quarter-finals against all odds.

“I think it’s brought us closer together. It feels like we’re playing against the world right now,” said captain Jessie Fleming, who scored Canada’s equalizer against France.

“This was definitely not on my bingo card for these Olympics.”

She added that the points deduction was “extremely unfair” and stressed that the players had “absolutely no control over the situation”.

“It was incredibly sad to hear this news, but I am also so proud of how we rallied, performed today and won.

“That’s the first step. If we also beat Colombia, we will get out of this group.”

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