The prestigious American newspaper The New York Times reviewed the complaint filed by Chile with FIFA for the Byron Castillo case and assured that registration documents were presented that claim to prove the defender was born in Colombia.
The ANFP filed a formal complaint for the “use of false birth certificate, false declaration of age and false nationality” of the Ecuadorian national team Byron Castillo and began the path that can lead La Roja to the Qatar 2022 World Cup by secretary.
The fact has not gone unnoticed by anyone and the renowned American newspaper New York Times reviewed the background presented by the governing body of Chilean soccer. “Chile called on FIFA to leave Ecuador out of the World Cup and give Chile its place by filing a complaint about the eligibility of a player,” they wrote on the prestigious media’s Twitter.
The New York Times highlighted that the complaint “contains registration documents, including birth certificates, which claim to show that the defender Byron Castillo was not only born in Colombia, but that he is also three years older than what is stated in the documents used to identify him. as an Ecuadorian”.
“The level, both in quantity and quality, of the information and evidence that we were able to collect has surprised even us,” Eduardo Carlezzo stated according to the New York Times. The lawyer who investigated the case of Nelson Cabrera was signed by the ANFP to investigate a possible irregularity of the Ecuadorian team.
The American media stipulated that Chile put as a precedent the disqualification of Spain from the 2023 Rugby World Cup after losing points “for fielding an ineligible player in two games” and also the well-known case in South America of Nelson Cabrera, who was not eligible to play for Bolivia during the Qualifiers on the way to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
According to the New York Times, the ANFP complaint presented evidence showing that, in addition to Castillo’s birth certificate in Ecuador, there was a Colombian document for a child with the same name born in 1995.
The final decision on the complaint against Byron Castillo will remain in the hands of FIFA. If it is found that the player was not eligible to play for Ecuador, FIFA must sanction said team “with defeat by withdrawal or resignation (see art. 31) and a fine of at least CHF 6,000”, as established in its Disciplinary Code .