The composition of the tournament participants may change at the last moment.
All participants in the 2022 World Cup are known: 32 teams are divided into eight groups, the calendar is drawn up, and tickets are mostly sold out. It would seem that nothing can prevent all qualified teams from going to Qatar this autumn.
However, some still hope to get a ticket to the tournament, appealing to violations in the qualifying competitions. And these teams have a chance of success!
Will CAS risk making a huge scandal?
“No, I’m not Byron, I’m different…”
The Ecuador national football team qualified for the 2022 World Cup, finishing fourth in the South American qualifying tournament. The team has long known its rivals in the quartet: Qatar, the Netherlands and Senegal. However, there is still a risk that the wards of Gustavo Alfaro will not go to the Middle East in November. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) collects appeals from those wishing to replace the Ecuadorians in the main football tournament.
Competitors from Chile and Peru consider Ecuador’s entry to the World Cup unfair. It is the representatives of these two countries who seek support for their slightly different truths in the CAS. Ecuadorians are both accused of fraud, because, according to prosecutors, a “fake” citizen of an equatorial country was involved in the ranks of the national team.
We are talking about 23-year-old, according to official information, a native of Ecuador, Byron David Castillo Segura, who, according to the plaintiffs, is 27-year-old Byron Javier Castillo Segura from Colombia. The defender of unclear age and origin took the field in eight qualifying matches, scored several mustard plasters and one assist.
Competitors of Ecuador believe that they have collected sufficient evidence to leave the national team of this country out of the World Cup. But who should replace the Tricolor at the World Cup, opinions differ. The Chileans believe that they should go to Qatar, while the Peruvians insist on their participation.
The neighbors’ disputes already seemed meaningless for one simple reason – FIFA simply decided to turn a blind eye to the problem. The draw took place, almost all the tickets are sold out, why bring some confusion? However, the inaction of football officials did not stop applicants for a ticket to Qatar. The Chileans, and then the Peruvians, decided to seek justice in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Chile or Peru?
The football world heard the player who helped Ecuador qualify for the tournament confess that he was born in Colombia and that he obtained an Ecuadorian passport using false information. What does this say about the FIFA appeal committee, which, faced with all this, is still inactive? – quotes “Match TV” Secretary General of the Football Federation of Chile Jorge Junge.
Junge alluded to the audio recording of the football player’s interview, which was presented to the public by Sportsmail. Castillo communicates with investigators on it, admits to leaving Colombia for Ecuador, and at the same time is called by the full name of Byron Javier Castillo Segura, which appears on his Colombian birth certificate.
Let’s imagine that Byron really deceived FIFA and the Ecuadorians deserve punishment in the form of suspension from the World Cup. But why should the Chileans, who took only seventh place in the qualification, go to the tournament instead of the Tricolor? Hopes here are built, apparently, on the idea that Ecuador will receive technical defeats in eight matches involving an illegally naturalized player. The loss of points will throw Alfaro’s team into the basement of the standings, while Chile, on the contrary, will get hold of an additional five points, which allows the team to climb to fourth place.
The scheme is beautiful and generally logical. However, in Peru they also applied to the Court of Arbitration for Sport not out of principle, but for a specific purpose. The Inca do not want Ecuador to be awarded technical defeats in eight matches in CAS, because in none of them did Byron play against the Peruvians. In this case, Juan Reynoso’s team will not be able to get any additional points, which means that “Chilean mathematics” is harmful for Peruvians.
But if the Court of Arbitration for Sport simply deletes the Ecuadorians from the number of participants in the World Cup and instead of possible violators sends the next (fifth) team from the South American selection table to the World Cup, then everything will work out for Peru in the best way. After all, the fifth line in qualifying was just occupied by the Incas.
The scheme is no longer so plausible, but in theory the plan can work. Another question is whether CAS will hastily consider a difficult case that risks turning into a big scandal? As the Russian example shows, the Court of Arbitration for Sport does not like to rush too much. FIFA’s passivity in this matter also hints that any breakthrough solutions are unlikely here. Maybe in the future Ecuador will be punished, but apart from moral satisfaction for the Chileans and Peruvians, this is unlikely to bring anything.
