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The Chilean Football Association has appealed FIFA’s June 10th
decision to dismiss their complaint that Ecuador’s Byron
Castillo was born in Tumaco, Colombia in 1995 and not in the
Ecuadorean city of General Villamil Playas in 1998 as stated on
his official documents.
Castillo played in eight of Ecuador’s 18 qualifying games for
the Qatar World Cup. Ecuador have denied that the player was
ineligible.
FIFA said it had asked the Ecuadorean Football Association (FEF)
to make Castillo available for the appeal hearing.
The Chilean FA (ANPF) appealed the decision on July 1 and
recently urged FIFA to speed up the process.
Ecuador picked up 14 of their 26 points in matches Castillo
played. If they had lost points for the games in which Castillo
appeared, they would have missed out on a place in Qatar.
Ecuador are in Group A alongside hosts Qatar, Senegal and the
Netherlands. The World Cup kicks off on Nov. 21.
Eduardo Carlezzo, the lawyer representing the Football
Federation of Chile in its FIFA Appeal, told Reuters in an email
that the governing body had called Castillo himself to testify.
“We thank FIFA for this clarity around our appeal hearing and
for calling Byron Castillo to answer the many questions they
must have regarding his eligibility and therefore Ecuador’s
qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup," he wrote.
“We have provided a significant amount of evidence to FIFA
proving that the player was born in Colombia and his Ecuadorian
birth certificate is fake. Finally, on September 15 Byron
Castillo has the opportunity to explain the situation and then,
for the sake of fair play, justice can take its course.”
(Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Toby Davis)
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