Ecuador’s football federation (FEF) has said that Byron Castillo was left out of the country’s World Cup squad due to an apparent risk of “unfair” sanctions.
Castillo was the subject of a dispute after Chile lodged a complaint that he had been ineligible to play in World Cup qualifying matches, claiming his true nationality was Colombian.
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FIFA dismissed the complaint in June but Chile and Peru — who both missed out on qualification for Qatar while Ecuador progressed — appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
CAS dismissed the appeal but ordered a three-point deduction for Ecuador at the start of the next round of World Cup qualifiers, as well as a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs ($101,605) for using “a document containing false information”.
Read more: Ecuador was eliminated from World Cup 2022 with a 2-1 loss to Senegal
Ecuador left Castillo out of their final World Cup squad and the FEF explained its reasoning on Tuesday, saying it feared receiving further fines.
The FEF said in a statement: “Due to the arbitrary verdict by CAS, which ignores the most elemental legal principles that are universally applicable, and in order to avoid further unfair sanctions, the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF by its Spanish acronym) feels obligated to not include Byron Castillo Segura in the final (World Cup) list that was submitted to FIFA.
“The process that we’ve had to endure as an organisation has been not easy to navigate, much less for the player, who is part of our “La Tri” family.”
At a CAS hearing earlier this month, a panel ruled that “no violation of the rules on eligibility has occurred”.
CAS noted that “Ecuadorian authorities acknowledged Byron Castillo as an Ecuadorian national” and said that while some information was incorrect, Castillo’s Ecuadorian passport “was indeed authentic”.
Ecuador face hosts Qatar in the World Cup opener on Sunday. They then face the Netherlands and Senegal in group A on November 25 and November 29 respectively.
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(Photo: Getty Images)
