Ecuador’s qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was called into question by the scandal involving the falsification of documents of soccer player Byron Castillo, who was born in Colombia.
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The Peruvian and Chilean federations took the case to FIFA for Castillo’s improper line-up and that ultimately led to Ecuador’s quota for the World Cup being maintained, but thenFIFA will sanction the federation of that country with the loss of three points in the qualifiers for North America 2026.
Now, a new scandal broke out in that country. The club Independiente del Valle terminated the contract of player Alexander Bolañoswho falsified his identity documents, in a new case of identity theft.
“(Independiente del Valle) has terminated the contract with Alexander Bolaños for falsification of documents, once the entity in charge and governing Ecuadorian football (FEF) has verified and sanctioned the player,” the club said in a statement.
Bolaños was suspended for three years because, according to the FEF, He was playing with his younger brother’s paperworkThe scandal broke out when the footballer’s former businessman revealed to a Uruguayan radio station that Alexander Bolaños’ real name is not that, but Romario, and he is not 24 years old, but 30.
Investigations into the case began in April this year. Bolaños played three Copa Libertadores matches in the first half of this year, against Liverpool, Palmeiras and San Lorenzo, and appeared as a substitute in two others.
The newspaper El Universo, from Guayaquil, revealed that The change of identity allowed Bolaños to participate in the South American Under-20 tournament held in Chile in 2019, when he was already 25 years old, Ecuador was crowned champion of that tournament.
In its statement, Independiente del Valle added that it “feels deeply sorry” and expressed its “total rejection of this type of practice in Ecuadorian football.”
Other cases of document tampering in Ecuador
Apart from this case and that of Byron Castillo, who has just arrived at Barcelona de Guayaquil after playing the first semester with Peñarol, there have already been several cases in Ecuador of document falsification.
In 2015, three members of the country’s U-17 team were given a one-year ban. There was another similar case between 1999 and 2001.
In addition, in 2010 the FEF sanctioned player Ángel Cheme, who played for Liga de Quito under the name Gonzalo Chila, for identity theft.
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With AFP
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