Castillo saga: Ecuador face disqualification from World cup 

Ecuador face being kicked out of the World Cup after shocking admission from one of their players of using a false birth certificate, with the confession made in an official investigation that was covered up by the Ecuador Football Federation [FEF].

The stunning revelation in FIFA’s inquiry into the case of Byron Castillo comes days before their Appeals Commission are due to rule on the matter on Thursday, and could alter the identity of Qatar’s opponents in the first game of the World Cup and who England will face in the last 16.

An extraordinary story involving alleged fake identities and an apparent cover-up by the Ecuador Federation centres on the question of whether Castillo, a right-back who made eight appearances in World Cup qualifying, was born in the country or across the border in Colombia.

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In a new piece of evidence that will send shockwaves through South American football and create a major headache for FIFA, Sportsmail has published an audio recording of an interview Castillo gave to investigators four years ago, in which he:

Clearly states he was born in 1995 as opposed to the 1998 date given on his Ecuadorian birth certificate.

Gives his full name as Bayron Javier Castillo Segura, matching the details of his Colombian birth certificate, rather than the name on the Ecuador certificate, Byron David Castillo Segura.

Byron Castillo played eight times as Ecuador qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but Sportsmail has new evidence of him admitting to being Colombian.