Scandal has already taken hold of the World Cup on the tournament's first day of matches.
After spotting a drone hovering over its practice yesterday, France's team manager Didier Deschamps has called for an investigation into the possibility that the team was spied on, according to Yahoo Sports.
Deschamps told Football Italia the drone's operator was likely one of France's potential opponents, or a French news agency. France is in Group E with Switzerland, Honduras, and Ecuador.
The story is gaining traction in the French media. Sports website Infosport+ tweeted this yesterday:
Un drone survole les Bleus lors de l'entraînement, enquête du service de sécurité. Image captée par @nicopaillard pic.twitter.com/UwEzCdrHrJ
- infosport+ (@infosportplus) June 10, 2014
The tweet translates to: "A drone flies over the Blues during training," referring to a colloquial name for the French soccer team. It also alludes to an investigation.
BFMTV has reported that the drone wasn't Honduran. The article says the drone's pilot, who was apprehended by local police "wanted to have fun watching training since he could not be at the stadium." The article doesn't give the nationality of the pilot, though if BFMTV is right, it was probably a fan using it rather than a journalist or sports operative.
Regardless, the presence of a drone at the World Cup says a lot about how popular and relatively affordable drones have become.