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Until the beginning of November, the Ecuadorians did not know whether their opening match of the tournament against hosts Qatar was going to take place or not.
The country's footballing body were embroiled in a tussle with Chile after the fellow South American country filed a complaint to FIFA contesting Ecuador's qualification for the FIFA World Cup. This was because one of their players Byron Castillo, who plays for Ecuadorian club Barcelona, was actually born in Colombia although his documentation mentions Ecuador.
They also alleged age fraud by Ecuador, saying that Castillo was born on July 25, 1995, and not on November 10, 1998, as his records stated.
Ecuador's qualification campaign
Ecuador qualified for the mega event qualified in March after they finished fourth in their CONMEBOL group ahead of Chile, Colombia and Peru. Castillo played a key part in their campaign, featuring in eight qualification matches for Ecuador, including a goalless draw followed by a 2-0 victory over Chile.
Even before Chile's complaint, Castillo’s nationality came under the scanner, but he was given a clean chit two months later.
Why the case seemed solid?
The case against Castillo was irrefutable. Back in September, two foreign publications Marca and Daily Mail released documents and audio tapes in which the player opens up about being born in Colombia and his clandestine entry into Ecuador. His real name was actually Bayron Javier Castillo Segura, according to his Colombian birth certificate and he was brought into the country by Ecuadorian businessman Marco Zambrano.
The case against Ecuador seemed fool-proof and after FIFA handed the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), it seemed like their World Cup dreams ended even before that started. But the CAS had different ideas.
CAS sided with Ecuador
They deemed Castillo an Ecuadorean national with Castillo holding a passport of the country and instead, gave them a three-point deduction at the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign along with a fine of 100,000 Swiss Francs ($101,605.36) for 'using a document with false information'.
"Since the nationality of a player with a national association is determined by national laws (subject to time limits in case of a change of sporting nationality, which was not the case here), Byron Castillo was eligible to play... in the preliminary round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022," CAS said in a statement.
Ecuador riding on their luck
Castillo is not in the Ecuador squad to avoid any unnecessary sanctions for the team. However, they do not seem to be missing him too much if you look at their exceptional performances!
Led by their skipper Enner Valencia, the Ecuadorians have been better than the rest. Their 2-0 victory over hosts Qatar might have been exceptional, but it was actually their 1-1 draw with the Netherlands that showed their prowess. It was a dominant attacking performance, and the Dutchmen were lucky to escape with a draw.
With a draw against Senegal enough to take them to the Round of 16, it will be just the second time that the South American nation will qualify for the knockouts and the first time since 2006. But their real achievement will be to see if they can finish on top of their group and it will all fall on the number of goals they can score against their African nation. But a loss to Senegal will eliminate them from the competition if the Dutchmen beat hosts Qatar.
