The Chilean Football Association has conducted an investigation that claims to prove that defender Byron Castillo, who played for Ecuador in the World Cup qualifiers, is actually Colombian and three years older than the documents presented by Ecuador, writes the New York Times.

On Wednesday, Chile submitted a report to the International Football Association (Fifa).

According to Fifa rules, a team or national team can lose results if you play with an unapproved player.

Questioned origin

Chile wants Ecuador to be deprived of all points in the eight World Cup qualifiers that Castillo played and for opponents to be awarded victories in those matches.

If that happens, Chile will move up to fourth place in the South American World Cup qualifying table and qualify for the playoffs in November-December.

Castillo's background has been questioned for several years after a major investigation into player registrations in Ecuador showed that at least 75 young players had false information about place of birth and year of birth.

Even the vice president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation, Carlos Manzur, said last year that one should be careful about letting Castillo play.

- He is a good player.

But if it was up to me, I would not use him in the national team, I would not take that risk, I would not risk everything we do, Manzur said, according to the New York Times.

Bolivia was punished

Later that year, a court in Ecuador presented documents proving Castillo's nationality and allowing him to play for the national team.

- We believe that Fifa must investigate this carefully.

We always stick to the rule book and hope that other federations do the same, says Pablo Milad, chairman of the Chilean football federation.

In the qualifiers for the World Cup 2018, Fifa punished Bolivia for using an unapproved player in two matches.

Chile was then awarded the victory in one of the meetings with Bolivia.

CLIP: More from the World Cup qualifier - here Fernades Portugal shot to the World Cup

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Bruno Fernandes scored two goals and sent Portugal to the World Cup.

Photo: Bildbyrån.