Why does Ecuador start at a disadvantage in the Qualifiers?
Ecuador will begin the 2026 World Cup qualifiers this Thursday (7), against Argentina, with a disadvantage even before the match starts.
The situation occurs due to the sanction imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in November 2022, for the irregular lineup of right-back Byron Castillo. The sanction was made official just eight days before the beginning of the World Cup in Qatar.
On that occasion, the law firm Carlezzo Advogados (mainly Eduardo Carlezzo) represented Chile and sued Ecuador (initially in front of FIFA) alleging that the aforementioned athlete was not born in Ecuador, but in Colombia. This would mean an irregular lineup and would result in Ecuador losing points from the matches with Chile. In this specific case, Ecuador had won one and drawn another. FIFA did not accept the allegations and the accusation appealed to the last legal instance in the sports field, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS).
In a trial that was marked by speed, resolved in less than 45 days, the Swiss court validated the Chilean allegations in the indictment and concluded that the player was registered with false documentation by the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF). However, the punishment applied was limited to the collective aspect, deducting three points from Ecuador in the current Qualifiers, also imposing a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs (R$525,000). Therefore, Ecuador competed in the last edition of the World Cup and Byron did not receive individual sanctions.
Due to the possibility of changing representation at a World Cup, this case represented one of the biggest legal battles in the history of national football teams in South America. Something that, consequently, has generated extreme rivalry between fans of Chile and Ecuador.
