Rubbing salt in the Chilean wounds
Ecuador produced the sassiest of responses just moments after they found out that they wouldn’t be kicked out of the upcoming World Cup.
The South American nation were at the centre of an investigation after the Chilean Football Federation appealed for FIFA to investigate the eligibility of Byron Castillo.
Chile claimed that Castillo had used a fake passport to qualify for Ecuador
Chile claimed that Castillo had falsified documents to allow him to play for Ecuador, despite allegedly being born in Colombia.
Lawyer Eduardo Carlezzo, who represented Chile during the court case, backed up their claims by saying that fingerprints were absent from Castillo’s document that states he was born in Ecuador, with Chile accusing their South American neighbours of “rigging” the process.
FIFA have decided if they will ban Ecuador from the World Cup for allegedly fielding an ineligible player https://t.co/162ut5SEe5
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) June 10, 2022
But in a statement on Friday, FIFA confirmed that they had concluded their investigation and that they would no punish Ecuador.
They said: “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has rendered its decision in relation to the potential ineligibility of the player Byron David Castillo Segura with regard to his participation in eight qualifying matches of the national team of the Ecuadorian Football Association (FEF) in the preliminary competition of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
“The Disciplinary Committee’s findings were notified today to the parties concerned. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the parties have ten days in which to request a motivated decision, which, if requested, would subsequently be published on legal.fifa.com. The present decision remains subject to an appeal before the FIFA Appeal Committee.”
Ecuador post sassy response on Twitter
And just moments later they posted their response to the events in what could be interpreted as a subtle dig at the Chilean FF, s well as the relief that they won’t give up their place in Qatar.
All it took was one simple emoji: a hand covering a face from laughter:
🤭
— La Tri 🇪🇨 (@LaTri) June 10, 2022
Chile may still get the last laugh though as they have the right to challenge the ruling at FIFA’s appeals committee and potentially later at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Ecuador are in Group A at the World Cup alongside the Netherlands, Senegal and the hosts, Qatar.
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