The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to close the disciplinary procedure initiated against the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) for the possible breach of the call criteria with its selection of the player Byron Castillo in eight qualifying matches for Qatar 2022.
“After analyzing all the documentation received from the parties, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to close the disciplinary procedure initiated against the FEF. The Commission dismisses all charges against the Ecuadorian Football Federation,” FIFA announced this Friday.
The resolution, signed by the Ghanaian Anin Yeboah, vice president of the Disciplinary Commission, rejects the claim of the Chilean Federation (ANFP) and adds that “the disciplinary procedure initiated against the Ecuadorian Football Federation is declared closed.”
This resolution, adopted by the panel in which Thomas Hollerer and Mark Anthony Wade from Bermuda also participated, can be appealed to the Appeal Commission.
The decision was received with satisfaction in the FEF, whose president, Francisco Egas, quickly assured on his social networks: “Today sports justice has been done, we always knew how to be on the right side, let’s go Ecuador !!!”.
The FIFA ruling considers the case closed and rejects the claim filed by the Chilean Federation, which presented allegations about the possible falsification of the documents that grant Ecuadorian nationality to Byron Castillo.
The Chilean Federation denounced on the 5th that there is “innumerable proofs that the player was born in Colombia” and not in Ecuador and considered that article 22 of the FIFA disciplinary code should be applied and Ecuador forfeit the matches in which in which the defender of Barcelona de Quito participated.
This would allow the Chilean team to climb to fourth place and claim the ticket for the World Cup in Qatar. The Ecuadorian team qualified directly for the World Cup, along with those of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, unlike those of Chile and Peru.
The Peruvian team, which finished fifth behind the Ecuadorian, will play a playoff against Australia.
Defender Byron Castillo was lined up by the Ecuadorian coach Gustavo Alfaro for the two games against Paraguay and Chile and on one occasion against Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela and Argentina, decisive for the team to achieve one of the direct quotas for the World Cup.
The lawyer of the Chilean federation (ANFP), Eduardo Carlezzo, affirmed this Tuesday that if the Ecuadorian team competes in Qatar, “the World Cup will be stained”, and insisted that there is “sufficient evidence” of falsehood about the origin of the player. “It would be outrageous. The burden of proof is too high,” he said.
