With just two months left until the World Cup finals, Ecuador is facing a sudden crisis. The Chilean soccer federation accused Ecuador of irregularities in the use of Colombian-born player Byron Castillo in the World Cup qualifiers. The international actually held a forged birth certificate, by which he obtained Ecuadorian citizenship. The Daily Mail revealed a shocking audio recording in which Castillo himself "confessed". The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has sent an official letter to Ecuador requesting Castillo to testify at the appeal arbitration on Thursday (15).
Convinced that the recordings were strong evidence to prove their allegations were correct, the Chilean FA president who made the allegations, Merat, expects Castillo to be present at the arbitration meeting and believes it is unlikely that Castillo will be able to disprove his confession.
However, Castillo's attorney, Hergün, objected, arguing that the recording did not appear at the original hearing and therefore should not be used as a basis for arbitration in this appeal. Based on the contents of the 2018 recording, Castillo admitted that the name, age, and place of birth in the Ecuadorian birth certificate he provided were false information.
