The Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) is playing its last cards to overturn the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS, an acronym for Tribunal Arbitral du Sport, in French) by which the Tricolori must start the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup Cup with three points less.

In addition to the sports penalty, TAS also imposed an economic penalty: the FEF must pay the Chilean and Peruvian federations 10,000 Swiss francs for the costs incurred in the process and take over the costs of the trial.

It would be a ‘risk’ to call up Byron Castillo for start of 2026 World Cup qualifiers, says player’s lawyer

The Chileans and Peruvians launched a lawsuit against Ecuafútbol and requested the exclusion of Tricolor from the World Cup in Qatar 2022 due to the performance of Byron Castillo, who had legal problems because he was not born in Ecuador, but in Colombia, and irregularities were committed in his birth registration.

Francisco Egas, president of the FEF, believes that it is not convenient to invite Byron Castillo to the Ecuadorian team

“The application for annulment is at the Swiss Federal Court. Hopefully the verdict will be positive in the coming weeks. We will see if we can turn around the three points down before the start of the qualifiers”, commented Francisco Egas, President of the FEF, for Radio Ambato.

It would be a ‘risk’ to call up Byron Castillo for start of 2026 World Cup qualifiers, says player’s lawyer

While on June 16, Andrés Holguín, Castillo’s lawyer, commented: “If we don’t have a solution by the start of qualifying (in September this year), we will start with less than three points; but during the qualifying rounds, if a resolution is passed declaring this TAS decision null and void, at that point we get three points back”.

And as for the claims of the Argentinian coach Gustavo Alfaro, Egas stated: “We have unsettled values ​​in FIFA, because he (Alfaro) demands money that does not suit us.” We will pay what corresponds to the contract. The connection eventually broke and that made it impossible to rebuild.”

According to Ecuafútbol’s 2022 management economic report, submitted on January 31, the debt with the coach is $290,000; however, Alfaro claims a figure in excess of two million dollars. (D)