Ecuador, which has successfully advanced to the final week of the Qatar World Cup after an intense battle outside the South American World Cup, is at risk of being disqualified for alleged irregularities in the use of players during the qualifying rounds. A member of the Italian Olympic Committee has revealed that if Ecuador's irregularities are true, Italy will hopefully take the opportunity to qualify for the final week of the World Cup as a bye.
The Chilean FA has filed an appeal with FIFA, accusing Ecuador of using an ineligible player and allegedly falsifying documents when it fielded a player outside the World Cup who was not an Ecuadorian citizen but a Colombian.FIFA announced last week that the case had been referred to the Disciplinary Committee for investigation.
Franco Chimenti, a member of the Italian Olympic Committee, said that Ecuador could be penalized for the incident, and Italy might be the biggest beneficiary: if Ecuador is penalized, according to FIFA rules, the highest-ranked national team in the world should take its place. At the moment, this is probably Italy's chance.
Barrancas di Lu played 8 games for Ecuador outside of this World Cup, including two games against Chile, and ended up with 1 win and 1 draw. According to Italian media outlet La Repubblica, FIFA has prepared two options: one is to let Italy, which lost in the Euro zone play-offs, enter the final week as a substitute, and the other is to recalculate the points Ecuador earned in the matches Baylancastilu played in and have Chile replace Ecuador to qualify for the final week.
