Explained: Ecuador & Chile World Cup 2022 dispute

Ecuador look set to be going to World Cup 2022 in Qatar, despite serious concerns that the nation could have been booted out by FIFA.

The South American outfit were accused of breaching selection rules during the qualification process, which resulted in an appeal by rival nations, and there was a chance they could have been stripped of their place at the flagship event by the governing body of global football.

However, they have been cleared of wrongdoing by FIFA. So what exactly happened? GOAL has all the details.

Why was Ecuador's World Cup 2022 place in doubt?

Ecuador’s FA became the subject of an investigation by FIFA following allegations that an ineligible player was fielded during the South American World Cup qualification stage.

The man in question was Byron Castillo, with questions raised over the player's place of birth and documents pertaining to his nationality.

With claims that the 23-year-old full-back was using a false passport and birth certificate, FIFA were left with no choice but to dig further into the matter and subsequently opened disciplinary proceedings against Ecuador in May 2022.

Eduardo Carlezzo, a lawyer representing Chile, told Radio ADN at the time of the investigation being opened: "Chilean soccer is clear that a serious offence has been committed by the player. We have no doubt, with the documentation we have in hand, that he is Colombian. We have a narrative that has a beginning, a middle and an end.

"I'm sure that FIFA has knowledge and the need to speed up this very quickly. For this week we expect a demonstration.

"The Civil Registry of Ecuador declares in a legal ruling, which we have and that we sent to FIFA, that Castillo's departure certificate does not exist; and, if it doesn't exist, it's fake.

"We cannot validate that a Federation accepts and validates a crime. They deserve the harshest sanction from FIFA."

Ecuador finished fourth in the CONMEBOL section of World Cup 2022 qualifying, granting them an automatic passage to the finals. However, that would almost certainly have changed in the event that the allegations were proven true.

What was FIFA's decision on the Ecuador-Chile dispute?

On June 10, 2022, FIFA closed the proceedings against the Ecuador FA after "analysing the submissions of all parties concerned and considering all elements brought before it". An appeal, it said, could still be made within 10 days of the decision.

The governing body's statement on their decision can be read in full below:

"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.

"After analysing the submissions of all parties concerned and considering all elements brought before it, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to close the proceedings initiated against the FEF.

"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."

Which team could have replaced Ecuador at World Cup 2022?

News of Ecuador’s alleged misdemeanour had briefly delivered hope to Euro 2020 winners Italy that they could be offered a reprieve, having suffered a shock defeat to North Macedonia in the UEFA play-offs.

The Azzurri remain the highest-placed side in the FIFA world ranking not to be readying themselves for a trip to Qatar.

However, in the event that Ecuador were kicked out of the World Cup, Chile would have been elevated from their seventh-place finish in qualifying and into the finals. This is because Ecuador would have been forced to surrender any points picked up in games where Castillo took to the field.

In such a scenario, victories would have been awarded to their opponents in those contests, with Chile supplanting Ecuador in the South American qualifying table.

However, Chile have been left disappointed in their appeal, with FIFA closing the case.

Ecuador have been placed in Group A of World Cup 2022 alongside Qatar - with a meeting with the hosts due to be taken in on the opening day - Senegal and the Netherlands.

Have teams been kicked out of the World Cup before?

FIFA had already barred Russia from potentially taking part in World Cup 2022 ahead of plans for the competition being finalised.

On the back of Vladimir Putin’s call to invade neighbouring Ukraine, the decision was made to suspend the Russia national team indefinitely from all European and global competitions.

They had finished second in their qualification group, but were removed from the play-off process.

When it comes to past instances of ineligible players being fielded, Bolivia also faced sanctions ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

They were forced to forfeit two games in South American qualifying after using a Paraguay-born player that was not cleared to play for them.

FIFA rules dictate that instances such as that will lead to any results being changed to a 3-0 loss for the side that sought to gain an unfair advantage – be that unwittingly or otherwise.