FIFA have come down hard on Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez after he was found guilty of biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini.
Suarez, 27, has been handed a nine-game ban by soccer’s world governing body and has also been banned for four months from all soccer-related activity. Suarez has also been fined $111,000 for his actions and FIFA has imposed a stadium ban on him.
The Uruguayan star will now miss the rest of the World Cup and will not be able to play in the Premier League for Liverpool, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, until the end of October 2014 at the earliest.
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This ban, although severe, could have been even worse for Suarez as the maximum sentence for his actions was a 24-month ban under FIFA regulations. In their statement released on FIFA’s website Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, had the following to say about Suarez biting an opposition player for the third-time during his career.
In the coming hours we will find out if Suarez and the Uruguayan FA will appeal against the hefty ban, but even if he does appeal, Suarez will not be appeal to return to soccer until the ban is completely overturned.
More details from FIFA can be seen below.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.
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