Byron Castillo: chronology of the case that moves South American football and that can leave Ecuador without a World Cup

Byron Castillo It’s not Lionel Messi or Neymar or Luis Suarez. However, it could end up being the deciding factor for a South American team’s qualification for the World Cup in Qatar. Yes, to that World Cup which, a priori, already has its groups drawn with four teams from this part of the world with a guaranteed presence. But an alleged bad inclusion of this right-back could end up with Ecuador being excluded from the tournament and with Chile taking his place thanks to an administrative move. The last word (pen) will be spoken by FIFA this Friday.

The battle began on May 5, 37 days after the last date of the South American qualifiers had been played. That day, the National Association of Professional Football of Chile (ANFP) sued Castillo and the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) before the FIFA Disciplinary Commission for alleged “False birth certificate, declaration of age and nationality” of the player.

From this, the ANFP requested that his team receive the points corresponding to the two commitments in which he played against the Ecuadorians for the qualifiers and in which Castillo participated: on 5 September 2021 they drew 0 to 0 in Quito and on 16 November that year the team led by Gustavo Alfaro won 2-0 in Santiago.

This Friday, after five weeks of analyzing the documentation submitted by the Chilean management, the parent company of ecumenical football will decide on the appeal. If the request of the trans-Andes were accepted, what was resolved in the field would be changed and the list of participants in the World Cup would be altered.

Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, the top three in the qualifiers for the South American Football Confederation, would not see their luck altered. The movements would occur further down. Ecuador, who finished fourth with 26 points, would give up the four units they won against Chile and drop to seventh place. And the redwho finished seventh with 19 units, would add 5 and reach 24.

This amount is the same that Peru has collected, fifth and qualified for the playoffs to be played on Monday against Australia. The team led by Ricardo Gareca ended their participation with a goal difference of -3, the product of 19 goals conceded and 22 conceded. If Chile were to win the two games against Ecuador 2-0, they would still have a -3 advantage, but with a higher number of goals (23), so they would stay in fourth place and go straight to Qatar.

The argument that keeps the Chilean dream in the World Cup alive is as easy to affirm as it is difficult to prove: that Byron Castillo is not Ecuadorian, but Colombian, and that is why his inclusion in Alfaro’s team has been irregular. The person in charge of convincing FIFA is the Brazilian lawyer Eduardo Carlezzothe same one who represented Boca’s interests in the dispute with River against Conmebol after the suspension of the return of the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores 2015 at the Bombonera.

In recent days, while the Chilean case was awaiting resolution in Zurich, Carlezzo raised his profile and held a flamboyant press conference in which he presented documentation that, in his eyes, was final. “It would be scandalous if FIFA were not aware of it. The burden of proof is too high. It is something strong and we hope FIFA will analyze it technically, ”she said.

According to the lawyer, Castillo was not born on November 10, 1998 in General Villamil, a city of 35,000 inhabitants located 80 kilometers north of Guayaquil, but on July 25, 1996 in Tumaco, a Colombian district of 257,000 inhabitants a few kilometers away. from the border with Ecuador. And, therefore, he is not Ecuadorian, but Colombian, and he is not 23, as evidenced by the records of the FEF, but 25.

In his exposition, Carlezzo exhibited a birth certificate which would have belonged to the defender and which was in fact dated 25 July 1996 in Tumaco.and ensured that the Ecuadorian birth certificate of the footballer it had no fingerprints and had just been entered in the computer register of the Directorate General of the Civil Registry, Identification and Identification of that country in 2012. He also accused the FEF of being complicit in the adulteration and claimed that if the FIFA Disciplinary Commission ruled against the Chile, the ANFP would appeal to the Court of Appeal and, if necessary, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Carlezzo’s splinter was followed on Wednesday by a striking post on the website of the Mexican channel Azteca Deportes, which assured that FIFA had already taken a decision and that it had given rise to the ANFP’s claim. However, hours after the vehicle he retired. But denials have less and less effect than claims. The publication further underlined the pending resolution.

Meanwhile, calm reigns in Ecuador. Or, at least, that’s what he’s trying to present. As soon as the Chilean complaint was filed, The FEF assured that Castillo was “an Ecuadorian citizen for all legal purposes, both in the civil and sporting sphere”. and immediately received the support of the Directorate General of the Civil Registry through its director, Fernando Alvear. On Friday, the Minister of Sport, Sebastián Palacios, added his voice. “The legal explanations and the answer have been completely clear so that Ecuador has no doubts about its participation in the World Cup,” he said.

From the United States, where his team is on tour (with Castillo included), Gustavo Alfaro defended the insertion of the defender on Saturday. We are very calm because we know how we did things. We know we have the right “he has declared.

Tougher was the president of the FEF, Francisco Egas, who scored the court for the last time before the sentence this Thursday. “The ANFP and its lawyer have created a media circus. They believe this game is won by sowing doubts in the media. Among them there were a million hypotheses drawn from social networks “, he fired. And he asked:” The resolution must be attached to the powers of FIFA. It would be illogical for them to take for granted what one party exposes “.

Although this conflict has risen to the heights of world football, it is not the first that Byron Castillo has faced due to the uncertainty surrounding his place and date of birth.or. In May 2015, when the player distinguished himself in the Ecuador Under-17 team, he joined Emelec on loan from Sport Norte América. But two and a half months later, before the team even played a match, the club cut the link.

“Having exhausted the checks that the club regularly applies in the sports, medical and legal system, the documentation presented by the player did not pass the filters that the club has put in place on the members of his squad”, explained the body. Guayaquil in a statement.

In 2017, the defender was separated from the U-20 squad due to doubts about his identity documentation. And in January 2019 the Disciplinary Commission of the FEF initiated an administrative procedure for alleged adulteration of acts and temporarily suspended it. Three weeks later, the suspension was lifted following an amparo action brought by Castillo’s lawyer in ordinary court.

Only in March 2021the Barcelona player from Guayaquil obtained the identity card that accredited him as an Ecuadorian citizen, despite his situation still being investigated by the Directorate General of the Civil Registry. And, by order of a constitutional judge, his contested birth certificate was validated. Six months later, he made his international debut in a match against Paraguay for the qualifiers.