Football
ESPN staff 10y

FIFA probes France 'spy drone' claim

France manager Didier Deschamps has revealed concerns that his side's final World Cup preparations may have been spied on by a drone hovering over their training camp.

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Les Bleus' buildup for Sunday's World Cup Group E match against Honduras in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at their base in Ribeirao Preto was disturbed by an unmanned aerial vehicle appearing over their heads.

It has not been confirmed to whom the device belonged or who was controlling it at the time, but Deschamps said such practices were becoming more commonplace in football and that world governing body FIFA was looking into the incident.

"Apparently drones are used more and more," Deschamps, a World Cup winner as a player with France in 1998, told a news conference. "It's not up to me. FIFA handles this and has been carrying out an inquiry. We don't want any intrusion into our privacy. It's very hard to fight this these days."

France will play their first World Cup fixture since the ignominious end to their 2010 campaign, when infighting within the squad and poor performances led to the 2006 finalist being eliminated at the group stage.

Deschamps insists that there is a much more positive air inside the camp as he prepares to enter his first major finals as an international manager.

"You shouldn't mention South Africa," he said. "We're now in another World Cup. We're in Brazil, and we're not going to be judged by what we did four years ago. It's wonderful to have a good atmosphere here. We have supporters behind the team."

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