Australia interim boss Tom Sermanni hopes former Canada women’s manager Bev Priestman will return to coaching at the top level after serving her ban for a spying scandal at the Olympics and says she would be a good fit for the New Zealand side.
Priestman and two other team officials were suspended by FIFA for a year after New Zealand complained Canadian staff flew drones over their training sessions before their opening match at the Paris Games.
Scotland-born Sermanni, a former assistant coach with the Canadian women and former manager of New Zealand and the United States, said Priestman’s sanction was unduly harsh.
“It just happened to be the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong tournament,” he told the New Zealand Herald.
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“Had that happened somewhere else at some (other) time, it probably wouldn’t have created the hysteria that it did.
“(I’m) not condoning those things but I think the punishment exceeded the crime in this case.”
Canada’s football federation confirmed last week that Priestman and the two banned team officials would not return to their roles with the national team after serving their bans.
Sermanni said Priestman would be a good long-term option for the White Ferns, who have been coached by caretaker Michael Mayne since Jitka Klimkova stepped down in May over an undisclosed “employment matter”.
Czech Klimkova was cleared after a New Zealand Football investigation but resigned from the post in September.
Priestman is married to former New Zealand midfielder Emma Humphries and Sermanni said she would be a good fit for the role.
“She’s been in New Zealand, she knows the landscape, the people, the culture, the players,” Sermanni said.
“She’s been dedicated to the women’s game. I’d be very disappointed if the drone thing doesn’t go away and she (doesn’t) get herself back in the game.”
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