Ecuador will eventually go to the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA confirmed this Friday, rejecting a complaint from Chile.
The International Federation of Associated Football (FIFA) has denied Chile’s claim that Byron Castello’s inclusion in eight South American qualifiers was inappropriate.
The Chilean National Association of Professional Soccer (ANFP) alleges that Castillo was in fact a Colombian citizen and that his documents were forged.
But FIFA accepted the arguments of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) that the country’s justice had granted the player Ecuadorian citizenship.
The procedure against the FEF has been “closed”, referring to the resolution of the FIFA Disciplinary Commission.
It said in a statement that it had rejected all allegations against the Ecuadorian federation “after analyzing all documents received from the parties”.
Chile has ten days to appeal the decision before the FIFA Appeals Committee, and may even go to the CAS for arbitration.
Francisco Agas, president of the Ecuador Football Federation, celebrated the decision via his Twitter account: “Today, justice has been done in sports, we always knew how to be on the right side, let’s go to Ecuador !!!”
Hoy se ha hecho justicia deportiva, siempre supimos estar del lado correcto, vamos Ecuador!!! @FEFecuador pic.twitter.com/epK9HJ4W2o
— Francisco Egas (@franciscoegas) June 10, 2022
Rejecting FIFA’s claim to Chile, Ecuador pointed to possible mismanagement of Byron Castello.
What did Chile demand?
The Chilean federation has condemned “numerous pieces of evidence” that Castillo was born in Colombia and assured that his Ecuadorian citizenship documents were invalidated.
The ANFP said it had evidence that Castillo was born in 1995 in Tomaco, Colombia, and not in 1998 in Ecuador’s General Vilmal Pleas, as stated in its official documents. Thus, he demanded that Article 22 of FIFA’s disciplinary code be enforced, which means that Ecuador lost the matches in which the defender of the Ecuadorian club Barcelona de Quito participated.
If that were the case, Chile would have reached the fourth position in the standings and therefore would have gone straight to the World Cup in Qatar, which takes place in November and from which Chile was left out.
Ecuador, along with teams from Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, qualified directly for the World Cup.
Peru finished fifth and advanced to the playoffs (the place will be played against Australia on Monday) and Chile finished seventh without options.
Ecuador coach Gustavo Alfaro fielded Byron Castello in two matches against Paraguay and Chile and on one occasion against Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Argentina.
Chile has been knocked out of the world’s top football tournament for the second time in a row.
“We are losing 1-0, but the second half remains,” ANFP president Pablo Milad told a news conference Friday with the association’s lawyer, Eduardo Carlisle.
The sports arbitration tribunal added: “FIFA’s decision did not surprisingly work in our favor, despite strong evidence. We will wait for the arguments and we will appeal to FIFA. If it does not work in our favor.” We will go to CAS. ” leader
The ANFP said a pre-FIFA action could result in a decision about 20 days after the appeal. For his part, the lawyer assured that he could “eliminate all incidents by the end of September or maybe even earlier.”
