Chile has asked Fifa to investigate Ecuador If they fielded an ineligible player in a World Cup qualifying game. A complaint filed by the Football Federation of Chile (FFC) with Fifa’s disciplinary committee alleges that Byron Castillo is Colombian, and has his age falsified as well. The FFC claims Castillo used a false birth certificate and nationality to register as Ecuadorian.
Chile asks Fifa to Investigate Ecuador for Playing ineligible Player
If the investigation proves true, under Fifa rules Ecuador could have to forfeit their World Cup place. They finished fourth in Conmebol qualifying and claimed an automatic place in Qatar ahead of Peru, who must play Australia or the United Arab Emirates in a play-off in June. Colombia finished sixth. But Chile says that Ecuador should forfeit the eight games Castillo played in, and their opponents are awarded three points for each of them.
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Doing that will see Chile, who finished seventh, leapfrog Colombia and Peru into the fourth automatic spot. Chile in a statement said: “There are innumerable proofs that the player was born in Colombia, in the city of Tumaco, on July 25, 1995, and not on November 10, 1998, in the Ecuadorian city of General Villamil Playas.”
The statement claimed that their football federation knew the player was Colombian, adding: “The world of football cannot close its eyes to so many tests. The practice of serious and conscious irregularities in the registration of players cannot be accepted. There must be a fair play on and off the pitch.”
Castillo’s nationality had reportedly been checked by their authorities and the FEF over several years before the player was eventually picked for the national team last year.