FIFA have rejected Chile’s complaint about an ineligible player, so Ecuador will keep their place at the 2022 World Cup, definitively closing the door on Italy too.
All reports until today had pointed towards FIFA accepting Ecuador had fielded an ineligible player in eight of their World Cup qualifiers, with claims Bryan Castillo was born in Colombia and was using a faked birth certificate.
However, today FIFA announced they have rejected Chile’s complaint, so Ecuador will be going to the 2022 World Cup in November and December.
Ecuador have been placed in Group A with hosts Qatar, the Netherlands and Senegal.
In theory, Italy would’ve been promoted into the tournament, as the rules would benefit the eliminated team highest in the FIFA world rankings.
However, the likely option would’ve been to give Ecuador a defeat in all their games where Castillo played, which would push Chile up the South American table instead.
It would also have allowed them to maintain the balance of South American to European teams in the tournament.