“I wanted to help my family”: the Ecuador national team risks not going to the World Cup in Qatar due to problems with the documents of the football player

The story of the possible removal of Ecuador from the upcoming World Cup began in April this year.

Then the Chilean Football Association filed a complaint with the FIFA Disciplinary Committee about the violations committed by their rivals in the qualifying round in South America.

The document claimed that defender Byron Castillo had no right to play for the national team, as he was actually born in Colombia, and his Ecuadorian documents were falsified.

The international federation held a trial and refused to satisfy the complaint, leaving the composition of the World Cup participants the same.

However, the other day, almost two months before the start of the tournament, the press allegedly appeared new evidence of deception on the part of the player and the national football association.

The British tabloid Daily Mail published two birth certificates believed to be those of Castillo, as well as an audio recording of his 2018 interview detailing his move to Ecuador.

The authors of the investigation claim that the real name of the defender is Byron Javier Castillo Segura, and he was actually born in the Colombian town of Tumaco on the border with Ecuador on July 25, 1995.

As a teenager, the boy moved to San Lorenzo, where he received a new birth certificate with a slightly changed name (Byron David Castillo Segura) and a different date of birth - November 10, 1998.

Even the name of the person who allegedly helped him acquire forged documents is called - the president of the Norte America club, Marco Zambrano.

As it turned out, the player had problems with documents before.

In 2015, one of the Ecuadorian teams of the first division, to which Byron was supposed to go on loan, refused the agreement, citing inconsistencies in his birth certificate.

In the same year, Castillo captained Ecuador to the Under-17 World Championship, but when he was called up to play for the U-20 team a couple of years later, the paper question resurfaced and the World Cup had to be missed.

The Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) then claimed that all the problems arose from confusion: they say Castillo had an older brother with exactly the same name, who died in childhood.

However, at the disposal of the Daily Mail were papers indicating that already four years ago the FEF was aware of the true place and date of birth of the athlete.

In addition, it is noted that in the civil registers of Ecuador, there is simply no record of the birth of Castillo.

Based on the audio recording of the conversation published in the tabloid, the player himself, during the proceedings four years ago, unambiguously answered all the questions that arose.

So, he said that he was born in 1995 in Tumaco, and he never had a brother - only a sister.

In San Lorenzo, he first appeared on the screening.

According to Castillo, initially he was not invited to the Ecuadorian team, but his friend, who was chosen, did not appear, so the boy had a chance.

The family had to borrow money so Byron could stay in Ecuador.

“I arrived and did not know how to solve problems.

Did not know.

They told me different things, they say: “We will do everything, we will help you.”

I needed help.

I came here wanting to help my family.

I was aware of the situation in Tumaco.

I arrived and started playing without problems, being in the dark.

And only now I began to notice all the problems that arise, ”the Daily Mail quotes the words of the player.

It is assumed that a new trial of this case will be held in the FIFA Appeal Committee this week.

If the organization admits that Castillo's documents were indeed falsified and he did not have the right to play for the national team of Ecuador, two scenarios are possible.

The first offending team will be awarded forfeit losses in the matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifying round with the participation of a defender.

There were eight of them, including two with the Chilean national team, which is actively seeking punishment for a competitor.

Thus, the Ecuadorians will lose 14 points and drop to ninth place, while the Chileans will gain six points and take fourth place, which will allow them to play in Qatar.

Another outcome is also possible, in which FIFA cancels all the results of Ecuador.

Then the main beneficiary will be the Peruvian team, which will be able to go to the World Cup.

But it will look rather strange, since the Peruvians have already played in the play-offs and lost in them to the Australian team.

By the way, this is not the first time the Chilean Football Federation has made such complaints.

In 2016, the Bolivian national team lost points in two matches of the qualifying round for the 2018 World Cup with Peru and Chile due to the fact that Nelson Cabrera was not allowed to enter the field.

Then it turned out that when changing sports citizenship, a player born in Paraguay did not comply with the rule that requires living in a new country for at least five years before playing in the national team.

However, then the Chileans did not get the desired advantage in the selection for the world championship.

In the fight for the fifth place, which gives the right to play-offs, they were surpassed by the team of Peru, which also received three points thanks to the proceedings initiated.

When that situation ended, Cabrera couldn't help but quip that the outcome might have been very different if there hadn't been an investigation.

"God knows what he's doing," the Bolivian wrote on social media.