(REUTERS) - Ecuador will play at the 2022 World Cup after Fifa dismissed an appeal in the case of Ecuadorean player Byron Castillo whom Chile claimed was ineligible to play during the qualifiers, world football's governing body said on Friday.

The Chilean Football Association (ANFP) had appealed against Fifa's June 10 decision to dismiss their complaint that Castillo was born in Tumaco, Colombia in 1995 and not in the Ecuadorean city of General Villamil Playas in 1998, as stated on his official documents.

"Having analysed the submissions of all parties and after a hearing had been conducted, the appeal committee confirmed the decision of the disciplinary committee to close the proceedings initiated against the FEF," Fifa said in a statement.

"Amongst other considerations, it deemed that on the basis of the documents presented, the player was to be considered as holding permanent Ecuadorean nationality in accordance with... Fifa regulations governing the application of the statutes."

Chile appealed against the decision on July 1 and recently urged Fifa to speed up the process before they were assigned a hearing on Thursday.

Castillo played in eight of Ecuador's 18 qualifying games for the World Cup.

Ecuador, who denied that the player was ineligible, picked up 14 of their 26 points in matches Castillo played.

Losing points for the games in which Castillo appeared would have meant they missed out on a place in Qatar.

Chile finished seventh in the single South American World Cup qualification table, seven points behind Ecuador in the fourth and final automatic berth for Qatar.

If Chile had been successful in their appeal, they would have leapfrogged Ecuador into direct World Cup qualification.

Castillo, 23, played in both Ecuador's World Cup qualifiers against Chile - a 2-0 victory in Quito last September and a 0-0 draw in November.

Ecuador are in Group A alongside hosts Qatar, Senegal and the Netherlands. The World Cup kicks off on Nov 20 with Ecuador playing Qatar. REUTERS, AFP