The reaction of the Ecuadorian team after controversy over Byron Castillo: “May the joys continue in the World Cup!”

The case of the nationality of Byron Castillo, a Barcelona SC footballer and member of the Ecuadorian national team, resurfaced this Tuesday after a lawyer presented alleged evidence that would show that the athlete was born in Colombia, a country where it was speculated that Ecuador could not play the World Cup in Qatar because of that situation.

After the controversy, a sarcastic publication was shared from the ‘Tricolor’ Twitter account, with Castillo as the protagonist. “This is going to get out of hand! Jeremy Sarmiento and Byron Castillo dance, smile and hug each other in the foreground. May the joys continue in the World Cup! was the message, with a postcard of both in a celebration.

In a public appearance in Quito, the lawyer Luigi García presented an alleged birth certificate registered in Tumaco, a town in the Colombian department of Nariño, which would correspond to the footballer under the name of Bayron Javier Castillo Seguro, with a date of birth on July 25 from 1995.

However, after several years of investigations, Castillo’s Ecuadorian nationality was accredited last year by the Ecuadorian Justice with a ruling that ordered that the player, of Colombian parents, be registered as Byron David Castillo Segura, born on November 10, 1998 in the coastal province of Guayas.

It was then, when his Ecuadorian nationality was judicially ratified, that Castillo began to be summoned by the Ecuadorian senior team to play the South American qualifying rounds for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The midfielder was lined up by the coach Gustavo Alfaro for the two matches against Paraguay and Chile twice, and on one occasion against Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela and Argentina, key matches for the Tricolor to achieve one of the direct quotas for the World Cup.

With information from EFE.