In 2015, Byron Castillo did not remember which school he attended in the canton of General Villamil (Playas), the place of his alleged birth. Is that possible? That glaring omission would occur when the defender confronted the Emelec leadership about his true nationality and age. It was learned that between sobs, Castillo answered questions that he did not remember, among other things related to his childhood, the name of the school where he attended elementary school in Ecuador.

The details of that conversation between Castillo and the head of electrical engineering, who at the time had the results of an internal investigation into the footballer’s origins, were reported eight years ago by Nassib Neme, then president of Emelec, for EL UNIVERSO, and recently ratified by the former blue leader to this newspaper.

Diario AS: The court deals another blow to Ecuador for Byron Castillo and Chile has something to celebrate

On July 28, 2015, the millionaires issued a statement that, among other things, stated: “After the checks that the club regularly carries out, in the sporting, medical and legal sense, the documentation presented by the player (Byron Castillo) did not pass the filters which the club has implemented on its team members.”

Byron Castillo ‘admitted he was not born in Ecuador’, reveals TAS among reasons for FEF punishment

From Emelec to TAS

Furthermore, the shipyard institution emphasized this aspect in its 2015 letter: “Emelec informs that it has decided to terminate the contract and return the player (Castillo) and will continue to carry out strict internal controls before using any player that may be immersed in different situations that affect the sporting interests of our club. “The indicated player did not play in any game in the first team of the Emelec club, neither as a starter nor as a substitute.”

Byron Castillo case: ‘FEF behaved badly, the use of forged documents cannot be taken lightly’, explains CAS on punishment

That chapter of the contract rejected by Emelec was the first in a long list of controversial events involving Castillo. And after nearly a decade of complications, the mess led to a final decision by the Federal Court of Switzerland, which rejected an appeal filed by the Ecuadorian Football Association.

The court decision of the Swiss confirmed the punishment imposed on the FEF by the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport, abbreviation in French): a financial penalty of 100,000 Swiss francs and the deprivation of three points from the national team in the World Cup Qualification 2026.

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Are you 28 or 25?

But after the Federation exhausted all possible legal resources and lost them, doubts remain as to Castillo’s true nationality – is he Colombian or Ecuadorian? – and what year was he really born – was he born in 1995 or 1998?. For the CAS and for the Swiss judiciary, the current defender of Mexican Pachuca was not born in Ecuador and is 28 years old, not 25.

At home, however, Castillo is Ecuadorian for all intents and purposes. With the sponsorship of lawyers associated with Barcelona SC, Castillo managed to get Judge Ronald Guerrero Cruz, of the North 2 Criminal Justice Unit, based in Guayaquil, to declare the case admissible on January 28, 2021. habeas data which he presented and that, therefore, the judge ordered him, in an official letter dated February 25 of that year, addressed to the Civil Registry of Ecuador, that the soccer player be registered as an Ecuadorian citizen.

True to its complete secrecy, and when the news leaked to the media in Chile and Spain last weekend, the FEF only accepted this Monday that it already knew the verdict of the Swiss Federal Court and that its appeal had not been accepted. . In an “official statement”, unsigned, about the reaffirmation of the sanctions, it is said that, in view of the “judgment in the case of the player Byron Castillo, every act of our institution has been carried out in accordance with what is prescribed by the legal system of our country.”

“FEF violated Article 21”

Ecuafútbol also states that “we maintain our commitment to exhausting all the resources that the law gives us to show our correct behavior and correct this unjust decision, regardless of the forum in which we have to do it. As was done for the Qatar 2022 qualifiers, with the support of our fans, we will fight for a place at the next World Cup on the field.”

However, the CAS had a different opinion: “The FEF violated Article 21 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code by using a document that contained false information (the passport of Castillo, who was identified by the directors of the football associations as Colombian). Peru and Chile ).

And about deducting three points from the national team in the qualification for the 2026 World Cup, in the 86-page document TAS (Arbitration Decision) gives the following explanation on that aspect: “The panel (of four judges) believes that the FEF behaved badly. The FEF, without questioning the information and documentary evidence it has about the suspect player (Byron Castillo), decided to take a risk and invite him to play for the national team in some World Cup qualifiers.”

Incriminating audio recording

Castillo’s presence at the World Cup in Qatar, with Ecuador, was challenged by Chilean officials, and later by Peruvians, at FIFA. However, world football’s governing body rejected the claim, which the Reds and Incas later took to CAS.

The CAS arbitral award states that, among several procedural elements that were taken into account to penalize FEF and Tricolor, there was one that was clearly fundamental when imposing the penalty. It’s “an audio recording of part of the player’s interview with Colonel (Jaime) Jara (former president of the FEF Commission of Inquiry, during the Carlos Villacís administration).” The CAS considered that this evidence was “not only admissible, but also reliable (…); “The panel considers that the audio recording is admissible as evidence in this proceeding.”

Lawyers Massimo Coccia (Italy), Romano Subiotto (Belgium), José María Alonso (Spain) and Francisco Larios (USA), members of the CAS council that dealt with the football player’s case, stated in the text that “the player (Castillo) is in expressly admitted to the interview with Colonel Jaro that he was not born in Ecuador on November 10, 1998 as Byron David Castillo Segura, as stated in his Ecuadorian passport, but on June 25, 1995 as Byron Javier Castillo Segura and that he came to Ecuador in Tumaco, Colombia .” (D)