The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has granted an appeal by the Chilean football federation (FFCH) against FIFA’s decision to allow Ecuador to play at the World Cup despite allegations they fielded an ineligible player, it said on Friday.
World governing body FIFA dismissed an appeal earlier this month in the case of Ecuadorean player Byron Castillo, who Chile alleged was ineligible to play in qualifying since he was born in Colombia.
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Castillo played in eight of Ecuador’s qualifying games — including twice against Chile — for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as they took fourth place, while Chile finished seventh. Ecuador have denied that the player was ineligible.
CAS said it had also accepted an appeal by the Peruvian football federation (FPF). Fifth-placed Peru missed out on the last automatic spot but advanced to the inter-confederation playoffs, where they lost to Australia.
“The appeal filed by the FPF is directed at the Ecuador football association (FEF) and FIFA. The FPF requests that Ecuador be excluded from the FIFA World Cup 2022 and replaced by Peru, which is the best runner-up,” CAS said in a statement.
“[Chile’s] FFCH requests CAS to rule that the Player was ineligible for the eight matches played in the qualifiers, declaring those matches as forfeited and placing Chile in the fourth position in the South America 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.”
A decision is expected by Nov. 10, days before the World Cup kicks off on Nov. 20 with Ecuador scheduled to take on hosts Qatar.
