Celebrate La Roja: the Swiss Federal Court ratifies the subtraction of points and the millionaire fine in Ecuador for Byron Castillo

There are a few days left before Ecuador hosts Chile for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, but we can already say with certainty that the temperature is reaching its highest level from the day before. The reason is, strictly speaking, a pending account of the previous process, when La Roja wanted to remove Guayas’ team from the ranking administratively, questioning the inclusion of Byron Castillo. In this process, although the reasons presented by the ANFP were addressed, thanks to the legal team led by Eduardo Carlezzo, it was ultimately the Tricolor that arrived in Qatar.

However, The Chilean Football Federation (FFCh), led by Pablo Milad, continued to fight for sporting justice. And although he was unable to participate in the 2022 World Cup, he got the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to deduct three points from Ecuador for the 2026 qualifiers and fined them of 100,000 Swiss francs (a little over 100 million pesos). And that’s not all, since the court confirmed that the right-back had indeed used fraudulent documents.

The residents of Guayas did not like the resolution at all and went to the Swiss Federal Court, which ended up burying their allegations today. The entity ignored the appeal presented by the federation led by Francisco Egas and finally ratified an important sporting sanction: the subtraction of three points in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. In addition, he imposed a fine of 100 thousand Swiss francs on the FEF. . The first element could be decisive in the dispute for a place at the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“There is no other recourse. Today, in the world of football, Byron is Colombian and his fraudulent registration as Ecuadorian has been recognized by the highest sports organization, the CAS, and by the highest judicial body in Switzerland, the Federal Tribunal,” states the lawyer of the Chilean Football Federation (FFCh), Eduardo Carlezzo. “The Ecuadorian team is definitively sanctioned by the loss of three points in the 2026 World Cup standings in the United States, Mexico and Canada, due to the use of false documents” underlines the Brazilian lawyer.

Chile was convinced that Castillo was born in Colombia and therefore his inclusion in the team then managed by Gustavo Alfaro was irregular. . With this certainty, he tasked Carlezzo with proving this theory, just as he had managed to do in the previous Qualifiers, when Nelson Cabrera’s participation for Bolivia was successfully challenged. Chile gained the upper hand in this controversy, although in practice it could not avoid the failure that occurred on the field: it did not participate in the World Cup in Russia either.

In July, the Swiss Federal Court concluded that Castillo was ineligible for Ecuador, as CAS had decided. “When analyzing each of the pieces of evidence and documents placed in the file, The Court concludes that the data inserted in the player’s Ecuadorian passport is false, in particular his name, date and place of birth. Thus, the Court confirms and recognizes that the correct name of the player is Bayron Javier Castillo Segura, born in Tumaco, Colombia, on June 25, 1995. ″, presents this resolution.

Then, the opinion repeats, almost in the form of a chronology, the antecedents which were presented during the development of the file. On this occasion he considered the Chilean argument as fundamental and also alluded to Castillo’s refusal to appear. “The CAS concluded that, although the totality of the evidence presented by the Chilean Federation is more than sufficient to reach a conclusion on the matter, All the facts are indirectly corroborated by the fact that Mr. Bayron did not appear before FIFA and the CAS, although he was summoned to appear several times throughout the proceedings. . In the opinion of the court, Mr. Bayron could not only, as he should have, appeared on several occasions to speak on everything that was reported and reported through the evidence presented by the plaintiffs, to clarify the facts. On the contrary, although he was summoned to the proceedings, Mr. Bayron refused to appear and/or comment on the alleged facts and the documents presented. . The court also understood that the Ecuadorian Federation did not make any effort to have the player present his testimony at the hearing, which could clarify the facts,” he explained.

Castillo, ultimately, did not participate in the World Cup. He was not recalled by Ecuador and will not be recalled again. . Among the Tricolores, they do not want to take new risks and even less now that the Swiss Federal Court has ratified the subtraction of three points against them for the current qualifications as well as the fine of 100,000 Swiss francs. At least, a joy for the Chilean team and the ANFP after such eventful weeks marked by conflicts.