FIFA announced on Friday that it had rejected an appeal in the case of Ecuadorean player Byron Castillo, who Chile had argued was ineligible to compete during the qualifications. As a result, Ecuador will participate in the 2022 World Cup.
The Chilean Football Association (ANFP) had challenged FIFA’s judgment on June 10 to deny their claim that Castillo was actually born in General Villamil Playas, Ecuador in 1998, not Tumaco, Colombia, as claimed on his official documentation.
FIFA released a statement in which it stated that the Appeal Committee had “analyzed the representations of all parties and following the holding of a hearing, approved the decision of the Disciplinary Committee to close the procedures begun against the FEF.”
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Among other things, it was decided that the player should be regarded as having Ecuadorean nationality permanently in accordance with FIFA Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes based on the documentation submitted.
Chile filed an appeal against the ruling on July 1 and recently pleaded with FIFA to expedite the procedure before their hearing was scheduled for this Thursday.
Castillo participated in eight of Ecuador’s 18 World Cup qualifying games. The player was not ineligible, according to Ecuador.
14 of Ecuador’s 26 points came from games Castillo played. Losing the games in which Castillo played would have prevented them from attending the tournament in Qatar.
Along with the Netherlands, Senegal, and hosts Qatar, Ecuador is in Group A. On November 20, Ecuador and Qatar will play to begin the World Cup.
