Chile files a lawsuit, the place to attend the 2022 World Cup in South America may change

FFCh says winger Byron Castillo is in fact not Ecuadorian but born in Colombia. They filed a complaint with FIFA alleging “using a fake birth certificate, declaring the wrong age and wrong nationality”.

Ecuador’s Byron Castillo (left) is said to have used fake birth certificates and citizenship AFP

Castillo (23) played in both of Ecuador’s qualifying matches against Chile – a 2-0 win in Quito in September 2021 and a 0-0 draw the following November. Chile team ranked 7th in the rankings World Cup qualifiers South America, 7 points behind Ecuador, the team ranked 4th and won tickets to Qatar.

According to AFP, if FIFA accepts the complaint and awards 2 wins to Chile team before Ecuador, they can jump to the qualifying position to win tickets to the World Cup finals later this year.

FFCh’s lawyer, Eduardo Carlezzo, told broadcaster Nacional de Chile that the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) knew that Castillo had a Colombian birth certificate and said the evidence had been submitted to FIFA. But the FEF asserted in a statement that Castillo “was duly registered with the competent legal authority” and had “all valid citizenship documents”.

If FIFA verifies the claim correctly, the Chile team (red shirt) can win tickets to the 2022 World Cup finals, and Ecuador may be eliminated.

According to the provisions of FIFA, a player may not represent a country of which he or she is not a national. Chile’s lawsuit alleges that Castillo was born in Colombia on July 25, 1995, not in Ecuador on November 10, 1998.

Castillo played for the Ecuadorian national teams at both U.17 and U.20 levels before making his way to the national team, making his debut in September 2021 and playing in eight matches. 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Ecuador won 4, drew 2 and lost 2 of the matches that Castillo played.

The youngster started his career in Ecuador with Norte America and currently plays for the country’s Barcelona SC. Attorney Carlezzo said the submission to FIFA showed that Norte America was “at the heart of the counterfeiting of player documents”.