The FIFA decided to break its silence and pronounce itself on the Byron Castillo Case, since the Appeals Committee showed a statement in which it argued why they ratified the decision of the first instance with the player from Club León.
First, the international football governing body mentioned that the defender met the eligibility requirements to be considered by the Ecuadorian National Team, and then gave a chronological overview of the positions they expressed in this controversial case.
"The Committee emphasized that it is not disputed that the Ecuadorian passport and identity card presented to him were duly issued by the corresponding public and/or state authority. In fact, the Committee stated that the allegations made by the Appellants essentially revolve around the veracity of the information contained in those documents (specifically regarding the player's place of birth)," they mentioned.
With all this, the FIFA mentioned that the documents presented by the FEF for Castillo are authentic because they had already been validated, at the time, by the competent authorities.
"In other words, these documents must be considered authentic documents issued by the competent authorities, and there is no evidence in the file to demonstrate that these documents would really be counterfeit or falsified," they asserted.
FIFA ratifies its decision
Finally, FIFA announced that with the validation already done on the part of the civil registry of Ecuador with Byron Castillo, it had no choice but to continue ratifying the position it had in the first instance. "The Committee considered that it had no choice but to conclude that the information contained in the Ecuadorian civil registry must be considered valid, authentic, and accurate, particularly considering that they had been confirmed by the competent judicial authorities based on a constitutional appeal. After having seen all of the above, the Appeals Committee concluded that this appeal must be rejected and the decision of the Disciplinary Committee must be confirmed in its entirety," they stated.