World Cup over for Suarez after record ban for biting

Saturday, 28 June 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters): Uruguay’s Luis Suarez was hit with the longest ban imposed at a World Cup on Thursday as FIFA threw the book at one of soccer’s most talented but controversial players for biting an opponent. Suarez was suspended from all football-related activity for four months by the sport’s world governing body which also ruled he could not play in Uruguay’s next nine competitive games, immediately ending his involvement in the World Cup in Brazil. The ban means the striker is unlikely to appear in non-friendly matches for his country until 2016. “He is totally distraught. He never thought the punishment would be so severe,” said Alejandro Balbi who is a member of the Uruguayan Football Association’s board and Suarez’s lawyer. The four-month ban means Suarez will have to sit out the first two months of the next English season and he will miss Liverpool’s opening Premier League and Champions League matches. “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,” said Claudio Sulser, the chairman of FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee. The 27-year-old striker left his Uruguay team mates shortly after FIFA’s announcement, depriving them of their most outstanding player two days before a do-or-die match against Colombia in the second round of the World Cup. FIFA also fined Suarez 100,000 Swiss francs ($111,000) after 10 hours of deliberations by its Disciplinary Committee. Uruguayan President Jose Mujica joined hundreds of fans in waiting at the country’s main airport to give Suarez a hero’s welcome on Thursday night, although they gave up after a few hours when it became clear he had not yet left Brazil. The Uruguayan FA said it would appeal against the ruling to FIFA as quickly as possible, paving the way for another challenge to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a final appeals body. But Suarez cannot play even if the challenges are lodged. Suarez is one of the most gifted players in world football, scoring 31 league goals in 33 games for Liverpool last season. He returned from a month on the sidelines with an injury to score twice in Uruguay’s 2-1 win over England last week, transforming the team’s World Cup which began with a shock defeat by Costa Rica in a game Suarez missed through injury. But he is also one of the game’s most troubled players. As well as two previous bans for biting, Suarez was accused of racially abusing a player in England in 2011.

Uruguay's Luis Suarez reacts after clashing with Italy's Giorgio Chiellini during their 2014 World Cup Group D soccer match at the Dunas arena in Natal – REUTERS