This South American Country Could Lose Its Spot in the FIFA World Cup

Published 05/12/2022, 4:00 PM EDT

BOCA RATON, FL – MAY 29: Players from Ecuador pose for their team photo prior to the game against Germany during an International friendly on May 29, 2013 at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida. (Front L-R) Cristian Benitez #11, Juan Carlos Paredes #4, Walter Ayovi #10, Luis Antonio Valencia #16, Jefferson Montero #9, (Rear L-R) Segundo Castillo #14, Goalkeeper Maximo Banguera #1, Frickson Erazo #3, Gabriel Achilier #21, Felipe Caicedo #8, Cristian Noboa #6. Germany defeated Ecuador 4-2. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

The World Cup is finally here again. This edition of the tournament will be held in Qatar in the months of November and December. Football fans are very excited about the spectacle, and every nation gave their all to reach the competition.

Naturally, a competition of this stature would always have its fair share of controversies. One of these controversies involves a pretty serious allegation made by the Chilean Football Federation against Ecuador. The organization alleged that one of the Ecuadorian players who featured in the match against Chile was not actually Ecuadorian.

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According to Chile’s claim, defender Byron Castillo was actually born in Columbia and not in Ecuador. They also alleged that his paperwork was forged and that the Ecuadorian authorities knew about it all.

What would this mean for Ecuador and their World Cup hopes?

They appealed to FIFA about this situation and if FIFA rules the match as a win in favour of Chile, a lot would change. Ecuador would miss out on the World Cup as they would drop down in the table and Chile would get the fourth place spot and the chance to go to Qatar.

The Chilean federation released a statement where they asked the world to “open its eyes” to the proof.

“The football world cannot close its eyes to so much proof. These serious and irregular practices in the registration of players cannot be accepted, especially when we are talking about a world competition,” they said.

The Chilean federation wants justice

The Ecuadorian FA denied all the allegations and claimed that Byron Castillo is Ecuadorian, according to the country’s laws. However, FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings into this case and if Ecuador is found guilty, they’ll probably be knocked out of the tournament.

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“Chile should get the points and thus move into fourth place. The amount of proof we have is incredible,” Eduardo Carlezzo said (A lawyer for the Chilean FA).

It would be an incredible story for Chile who would go to the World Cup after missing out on the tournament in 2018.

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Written by:

Aniket Awasthi is a soccer author at EssentiallySports. This STEM undergraduate combines an insatiable urge to write with his admiration for soccer to enhance his journalism. He lists charismatic names like Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford as his favorite players, but he is a great admirer of Karim Benzema too.

Edited by:

Paras Pande

This South American Country Could Lose Its Spot in the FIFA World Cup

What would this mean for Ecuador and their World Cup hopes?

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The Chilean federation wants justice