By Andrew Warshaw in Brazil
June 26 – Luis Suarez was plunged into international disgrace today when the Liverpool and Uruguay striker was banned by FIFA from all football-related activity for four months for his already infamous bite on Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
The 27-year-old has also been banned for nine international matches, ruling him out of the rest of the tournament, with his country due to meet Colombia in the round of 16 in Rio on Saturday.
The ruling means Suarez, a footballing genius whose notorious temperamental behaviour has turned him into arguably the modern game’s most controversial character, will also miss the first nine games of the new English Premier League season.
The incident occurred in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Italy just moments before Uruguay scored the only goal that knocked the Italians out of the competition.
The largest ban in World Cup history was delivered by the FIFA disciplinary committee, headed by former Swiss international striker Claudio Sulser, and announced this morning in Rio de Janeiro at the standard daily media briefing.
Sulser, explaIning the unprecedented severity of the punishment for a player at the World Cup finals, said: “Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field.”
The previous heaviest World Cup sanction was an eight-match ban on Italy defender Mauro Tassotti for an elbow which broke the nose of Spain’s Luis Enrique at the 1994 finals in the United States.
Suarez has already had separate bans of seven and 10 matches for biting opponents in the Netherlands and England but nothing has come close to the infamy he brought on the World Cup.
“The disciplinary committee took into account all the factors of the case,” said Sulser. Suarez has three days to appeal, which could complicate matters pending any hearing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which is based in Switzerland.
Uruguayan officials had leaped to the defense of their number one matchwinner, who had seemingly become a reformed character last season when he scored 31 goals for Liverpool and became the Premier League’s player of the year, implying there was a vendetta against Suarez, one of the deadliest marksmen on the planet and whose two goals against England ironically helped eliminate the nation in which he plays his club football.
But ultimately their evidence counted for little as Suarez now faces the ignominy of a long layoff from the game which will affect Liverpool just as much as his country and will send shockwaves throughout the sport.
The ban is a damaging blow to Liverpool for whom Suarez will be prohibited from even training, though the club would not be prevented from selling him
Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre commented: “Liverpool Football Club will wait until we have seen and had time to review the FIFA disciplinary committee report before making any further comment.”
The full FIFA statement read:
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided that:
· The player Luis Suárez is regarded as having breached art. 48 par. 1 lit. d of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) (assault), and art. 57 of the FDC (an act of unsporting behaviour towards another player).
· The player Luis Suárez is to be suspended for nine (9) official matches. The first match of this suspension is to be served in the upcoming FIFA World Cup™ fixture between Colombia and Uruguay on 28 June 2014. The remaining match suspensions shall be served in Uruguay’s next FIFA World Cup match(es), as long as the team qualifies, and/or in the representative team’s subsequent official matches in accordance with art. 38 par. 2a) of the FDC.
· The player Luis Suárez is banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) for a period of four (4) months in accordance with art. 22 of the FDC.
· A stadium ban is pronounced against the player Luis Suárez in accordance with art. 21 of the FDC as follows: the player Luis Suárez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium during the period of the ban (point 3). The player Luis Suárez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium in which the representative team of Uruguay is playing while he has to serve the nine-match suspension (point 2).
· The player Luis Suárez is ordered to pay a fine in the amount of CHF 100,000.
The decision was notified to the player and the Uruguayan FA today.
“Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field. The Disciplinary Committee took into account all the factors of the case and the degree of Mr Suárez’s guilt in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Code. The decision comes into force as soon it is communicated,” said Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
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