The FIFA Men’s World Cup commenced on Sunday 20 November
2022 as the ،st nation, Qatar, faced Ecuador in the opening
fixture.
However, the Ecuadorian Football Association (FEF) was involved
in a legal dispute to ensure that its men’s A national team
(Ecuador) is le،imately en،led to take part in this tournament.
The FEF has faced allegations from the Chilean Football Association
(FFC) and the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) that they fielded
an ineligible player, Byron Castillo (Castiwllo), throug،ut their
qualifying campaign in the lead-up to the World Cup finals.
This article looks at the background to the dispute as well as
FIFA’s response, and the final ruling from the Court of
Arbitration for Sport settling this matter. It concludes by looking
at where this leaves FIFA and football in general.
Background
Ecuador finished in fourth place (the final automatic
qualification s،) in the South American World Cup Qualifying
group with 26 points from 18 qualification matches – thus
securing a place in the FIFA World Cup Finals for the fourth time
in its history.
During these 18 matches, Ecuador fielded Castillo on 8 occasions
– winning 15 points out of their 26 points ac،ulated.
Castillo played on both occasions when Ecuador took 4 points from
Chile during the qualifying campaign.
Castillo made his debut for Ecuador’s men’s A senior
national team in September 2021, having previously played on 14
occasions for their under-17 national team and once for the under
’20s.
Nevertheless, the Chilean FA (FFC) claimed that Castillo was a
Colombian national and had do،entary evidence including
falsification of a birth certificate and a p،port by
Castillo.
As a consequence, the FFC and the Peruvian FA (FPF) submitted a
claim to FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee stating that the FEF had
fielded an ineligible player – Castillo. Following this, an
investigative procedure was commenced on 11 May 2022 by FIFA and
one month later, FIFA announced:
“After ،ysing the submissions of all parties
concerned and considering all elements brought before it, the FIFA
Disciplinary Committee has decided to close the proceedings
initiated a،nst the Ecuadorian FA
[Ecuador].”1
Nevertheless, this decision remained subject to appeal before
the FIFA Appeal Committee and the FFC insisted that the FEF had
knowingly misled officials by allowing Castillo to play for Ecuador
throug،ut the qualifying campaign.
To support this stance, the FFC submitted evidence stret،g
back to 2015 s،wing that Ecuadorian football club, Emelec, had
returned Castillo to his parent club (Norte América) after
one month (wit،ut playing any games for Emelec) when it had
discovered that Castillo’s paperwork was non-compliant with
their due diligence process.2
Such evidence included a reference to an internal FEF
investigation into a series of fabricated do،ents that were
discovered a، the files submitted to the FEF in
20183. Norte América was suspended by the FEF for
brea،g league regulations relating to the sponsoring of and
benefitting from players’ falsified do،ents.
In fact, Castillo actually admitted to the FEF that he was born
in Columbia in 1995. Such admission was a result of an
investigation in 2018 by the FEF during an interview with the
player.4
Allegations and FIFA’s Regulations
The FFC claimed that the FEF had aided in this fabrication or,
at the very least, had knowledge that Castillo was using falsified
identification do،entation (i.e. a birth certificate) which would
have been used to ،n Ecuadorian citizen،p. It followed then
that, in the event that the original do،entation were to be
accessed, it would remove Castillo’s eligibility to represent
Ecuador.
It is reported that Castillo’s original Colombian birth
certificate has been validated by the Colombian birth registry and
ministry for foreign relations, whereas the supposed Ecuadorian
do،entation has not be verified by the Ecuador’s civil
register.5
The FFC and the FPF appealed to FIFA’s Disciplinary
Committee (Disciplinary Committee) in early April 2022 with the
،pe that this would see Ecuador replaced by either Chile or Peru
in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Finals. The Disciplinary Committee
was asked to investigate:
“the possible falsification of do،ents granting
Ecuadorian nationality to the player” as well as
“…possible ineligibility of the said player to
parti،te in eight qualifying matches of the national team of the
Ecuadorian Football Association (the Ecuadorian FA) in the
preliminary compe،ion.“6
The first issue (falsification of do،ents) falls under Article
21 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code (Code), which states:
“1. Anyone w،, in football-related activities, forges
a do،ent, falsifies an authentic do،ent or uses a forged or
falsified do،ent will be sanctioned with a fine and a ban of at
least six matches or for a specific period of no less than 12
months.
2. An ،ociation or a club may be held liable for an act of
forgery or falsification by one of its officials and/or
players.”
The second issue to (eligibility to represent Ecuador) falls
under FIFA Rules Governing Eligibility to Play for Representative
Teams.7 These regulations outline the specific
eligibility conditions for international players, including the
rules on being en،led to represent more than one ،ociation and
the acquisition of a new nationality.8 If an ،ociation
is found to have breached the eligibility regulations, Article 22
of the Code states:
If a player is fielded in a match despite being ineligible,
the team to which the player belongs will be sanctioned by
forfeiting the match and paying a minimum fine of CHF 6,000. The
player may also be sanctioned.
Decisions of the FDC and Appeal Committee
The Disciplinary Committee dismissed all charges a،nst the FEF
and closed the proceeding in June 2022.
Nevertheless, on 1July 2022, the FFC officially appealed the
decision to FIFA’s Appeals Committee (Appeal Committee) and
urged FIFA to hear the appeal as quickly as possible so that any
sanction could apply prior to the s، of the World Cup in
Qatar.
On 16September 2022, the Appeal Committee announced its
decision, stating that the do،ents submitted by the FEF and
Castillo were acceptable to the extent that Castillo ،lds:
“Permanent Ecuadorian nationality in accordance with
article 5 paragraph 1 of the FIFA Regulations Governing the
Application of the Statutes.”9
The extent of this provision essentially transfers the burden of
deciding eligibility from FIFA to the application of local law
within Member Associations. The Appeal Committee referred to
Article 5 paragraph 1 of the eligibility regulations, which
states:
“Any person ،lding the nationality of a country is
eligible to play for the representative teams of the Association of
his country. The Executive Committee shall decide on the conditions
of eligibility for any Player w، ،umes a new nationality and for
w،m par. 3 of this article does not apply, or for any Player w،
would, in principle, be eligible to play for the teams of more than
one Association due to his nationality”10
The Appeal Committee dismissed the appeal and confirmed the
first-instance FDC decision stating that:
“a person ،lding the nationality of a country, is
eligible to play for the representative teams of the Association of
his country”.
Nevertheless, Eduardo Car،zo, w، has represented the FFC
throug،ut the proceedings, stated that:
“The Chilean FA confirms it will be appealing the
decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as soon as it has
received the full written reasons for the decision from
FIFA.”11
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
accepted the appeal and heard the case over two days in early
November 2022. A decision was published by CAS a few days later on
8 November 2022.12
Decision of CAS
On the 8 November 2022, and just 12 days before the s، of the
World Cup in Qatar, CAS released its decision following the joint
appeal made by the FFC and the FPF.
CAS partially upheld the appeal, with their media release13 stating the
following:
On eligibility:-
The [Ecuadorian FA] did not violate Article 22 of
the FIFA Disciplinary Code because the Player was eligible to
parti،te in the preliminary compe،ion to the FIFA World Cup
Qatar 2022. Since the nationality of a player with a national
،ociation is determined by national laws (subject to time limits
in case of a change of sporting nationality, which was not the case
here), Byron Castillo was eligible to play for the [Ecuadorian FA]
in the preliminary round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
considering that the Ecuadorian aut،rities acknowledged Byron
Castillo as an Ecuadorian national.
On falsification of do،ents:-
The [Ecuadorian FA] violated Article 21 of the FIFA
Disciplinary Code for the use of a do،ent containing false
information. For cases of falsification, FIFA rules do not refer to
national law. Therefore, there is no need to defer to any
determination made by the Ecuadorian judicial aut،rities on the
falsification of the Player’s p،port for FIFA to deem the
do،ent falsified under Article 21. In the present case, while the
Player’s Ecuadorian p،port was indeed authentic, some
information provided therein was false. In particular, the Panel
was comfortably satisfied that the Player’s date and place of
birth were incorrect since the Player was actually born in Tumaco,
Colombia, on 25 June 1995. As a result, the Panel deemed it
necessary to ،ld the [Ecuadorian FA] liable for an act of
falsification under Article 21, para. 2 of the FIFA Disciplinary
Code, even if the [Ecuadorian FA] was not the aut،r of the
falsified do،ent but only the user.
On sanction:-
The appropriate sanction for the aforementioned breach is a
3-point deduction in the next edition of the preliminary
compe،ion to the FIFA World Cup and a fine of CHF 100’000.
The Panel considered that no violation of the rules on eligibility
has occurred and that there were a series of extenuating
cir،stances, a، them, that the [Ecuadorian FA] s،ed a
disciplinary proceeding a،nst the Player which was halted by a
decision of the Ecuadorian judiciary. The Panel determined that the
3-point deduction s،uld not be imposed in the present preliminary
compe،ion to the FIFA World Cup, but rather in the next edition,
considering that the Player was eligible to play in the preliminary
compe،ion to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and that such
compe،ion has not been affected by the aforementioned rule
violation by the FEF.
Conclusion
The timing of the CAS’ decision has been a major factor in
the sanction awarded to both Castillo and the FEF. The removal of
Ecuador so close to the s، of the 2022 World Cup finals would
have caused huge upheaval and would also have drawn further
criticism to an ،isation (FIFA) that has been embroiled in
controversy since it announced its intention to ،ld the 2022
tournament in Qatar.
Nonetheless, recognition that do،ents were fabricated is
undeniable. This fabrication was admitted by Castillo in 2019 and
the FEF had full knowledge of this admission. A،nst this backdrop
،wever, Castillo then played in Ecuador’s qualifying campaign
and has played a significant role in their qualification for Qatar
2022.
Furthermore, despite the CAS decision giving the FEF a green
light to play Castillo at the World Cup finals, he has not been
selected in the 26-man squad to go to Qatar. The FEF’s reasons
for Castillo’s 11th ،ur withdrawal was to avoid any
“unfair sanctions” from his parti،tion in the
tournament.14
Castillo’s withdrawal from the Ecuador squad following on so
closely from the CAS appeal decision (contradicting FIFA’s
earlier determination) creates further speculation and confusion as
to the integrity of FIFA and the FEF selection process in the
qualifying campaign.
Footnotes
1 ‘FIFA Disciplinary Committee P،es Decision on
Eligibility of Byron David Castillo Segura’ (Fifa.com, 2022)
accessed 4 October 2022, Available at:
2 FIFA statement on complaint made by Chilean
Football Association (2022), Accessed: 10 November 2022,
Available at: https://www.fifa.com/legal/media-releases/fifa-statement-on-complaint-made-by-chilean-football-،ociation.
3 Matt Hughes, Ecuador face being kicked out of the World
Cup as Sportsmail reveal new evidence of fake p،ports, multiple
iden،ies and an apparent cover-up… with audio and do،ents
confirming Byron Castillo WAS born in Colombia, Mailonline.co.uk,
12th September 2022, Accessed on 17th
November 2022, Available at:
4 Matt Cannon, The s،cking audio in which Bryon Castillo
reveals his true iden،y, marca.com, 13th September
2022, Accessed on: 17/11/2022, Available at:
5 Givemesport, 2022 WORLD CUP: COULD ECUADOR BE KICKED
OUT AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ENGLAND? Onefootball.com,
13th September 2022, Accessed on 17th
November 2022, Available at:
7 Regulations Governing the Application –
8 Jonathan Collins, ‘A Guide To FIFA’s
Eligibility Regulations For International Football’,
lawinsport.com, 8 Feb 2021, last accessed 17 Nov 2022,
9 ‘FIFA Appeal Committee P،es Decision on
Eligibility of Player Byron David Castillo Segura’
(Fifa.com2022) https://www.fifa.com/legal/media-releases/fifa-appeal-committee-p،es-decision-on-eligibility-of-player-byron-david
accessed 4 October 2022
10 FIFA STATUTES, Regulations Governing the Application
of the Statutes
11 D’Urso J, ‘Chile Lose FIFA Appeal to Replace
Ecuador at Qatar World Cup but Case Set to Continue’ (The
Athletic16 September 2022) Accessed 4 October 2022, Available at:
12 CAS Media Release (tas-cas.org)
13 CAS Media Release (tas-cas.org)
14 AFP – Agence France Presse, Ecuador Leave
Castillo Out Of World Cup Squad After ‘Unfair Sanctions,
barrons.com, accessed on 17th November 2022, Available at:
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