Former Team Canada and Vancouver Whitecaps women’s soccer coach Bob Birarda has been handed a sentence of two years.
Birarda pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault and one count of touching a young person for a sexual purpose in February, charges relating to four former players who were teens when he coached them. The offences took place over a period of time spanning 20 years, between 1988 and 2008.
Birarda will spend nearly 16 months of the sentence in jail, while the remaining eight months will be served in the community with conditions.
In announcing the sentence, Judge Deanne Gaffar said a determination around the terms of the house arrest was still outstanding.
Allegations involving his conduct with female players became public in 2019.
Birarda was quietly dismissed as head coach of Canada’s women’s under-20 team and head coach of the Whitecaps women’s team in October 2008 for incidents and text messages involving players unrelated to the criminal charges.
He started coaching girls’ soccer in a Vancouver suburb a few months later.