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FIFA hands Suarez fine, suspension for bite

LuisSuarezUruguay4-ItalyWorldCup2014 (Getty)

By RYAN TOLMICH

The “bite heard ’round the world” was sure to end Luis Suarez’s World Cup experience, but FIFA took even bigger measures to make sure the Uruguayan forward suffered the consequences of his action.

FIFA announced Monday that they have issued Suarez a nine game international ban, as well as a four month suspension from “all football-related activity.” Suarez will also be fined $111,740 for the offense. Suarez is allowed to appeal, but he will still miss Uruguay’s upcoming match against Colombia if he does.

“Such behavior 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 chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee Claudio Sulser. “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.”

Suarez’s suspension will see him miss time on the international as well as club level, where he will miss Liverpool’s first nine Premier League matchups before returning Nov. 1 against Newcastle. The suspension also bans Suarez from training with the team, administrative actions and entering soccer stadiums during the duration of the four months.

FIFA clarified after posting their release that Suarez’s is still allowed to complete a transfer this summer, raising speculation over whether Liverpool might want to wash their hands of the mercurial forward.

Broadcast video and sideline photos from Uruguay’s final group stage match against Italy Tuesday showed Suarez bite the shoulder of Italian defender Giorgio Cheillini, leaving visible teethmarks in his skin. At the time, no card was issued and Uruguay went onto win, 1-0, and advance to Saturday’s Round of 16.

What do you think of Suarez’s suspension? Did FIFA get this one right? Will the ban deter Suarez from doing this a fourth time?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Neruda you need need to learn how to read Mr. Suárez plays for Uruguay!
    Fifa has banned Uruguay’s Luis Suárez from all “football-related activities” for four months for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini. The italian soccer player was bit and the idiot Suarez has done this before.

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  2. The GROSS PIG Suárez SHOULD BE FINED A LOT MORE MONEY THAN THAT AND HE SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO PLAY AT ALL! HE IS A GROSS PIG AND THE ITALIAN SOCCER PLAYER SHOULD PERSONALLY SUE THE PIG SUAREZ. WHAT IS THE PIG SUAREZ HAS A DISEASE HE PROBABLY DOES. HE SHOULD BE BANNED FOR GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. Not long enough, not harsh enough. This guy should be banned for a year or life. Multiple offenses. I don’t want him playing football.

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  4. This fine sets a bad precedent due to affecting the club. Last time he bit someone (I actually just typed that, the world has lost its mind) it didnt affect Urugua it was an English FA thing. He did ir for Uruguay and somehow Liverpool is being affected despitecontrolling him when he was there the entirety of last season.

    Insert your favorite club here (Barca/Real/Chelsea/United/Arsenal/Everton/Dortmund). Busquets/Ramos/Terry/Evra/Podolski/McCarthy/Reus in an international game just broke someones leg purposeful horror tackle. On reviewing the case turns out theyve done it a few times, just never broke any bones. An opposing player is out for a year or more (I miss Stu Holden too). Now they all get suspended for club games.

    Cantona could still play for france after the assault he committed and even then he didnt break anyones bones (de jong cough). All everyone is seeing is punishing the cannibal. But once you open up this path thats your life now. A classy player in a perfect system has to become a hack for their national team and all of a sudden Man City is being punished for something Yaya Toure did while in the africa cup of nations…

    Liverpool will sell him and collect 100 mil euros. Good business for them. What happens when Arsenal is one game out of The Cup and they are punished because Flamini had to do something crazy on international duty. Why punish other fans and organizatiosn that had nothing to do with this.

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    • The cantona still playing for france I didnt check. So if not a fact discount it. I still believe its a valid argument though.

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    • I have no pity for Liverpool or the next club that buys him after he’s done this again. Liverpool knew exactly what it was getting with Suarez as done his country and any club that picks him up. Liverpool shelled out all that money on the risk that Suarez had learned to keep his mouth shut – literally. He didn’t and they suspended and fined him and ran with the risk again. Once again it’s coming back to ‘bit’ them.

      They purposefully brought in and kept a player with a bad history who has continued with the same behavior they knew about in advance. It’s really no different that bringing in a player with a history of injuries who again goes down with the same injury. That was their calculated risk.

      I think FIFA didn’t go far enough. I think he should have been banned permanently. FIFA wouldn’t do that because it would effect their bottom line. Still, on top of the suspension, banned from stadiums and the fine (which was a joke considering what he makes), there should have been three other stipulations.

      1) he is required to wear a mouth guard EVERY match for the rest of his career for the protection of other players on the pitch.

      2) he receive mandatory psychological help/therapy to deal with whatever his issues are.

      3) a final warning that if he ever bites again he would never play competitive futbol again. That way there would he would know in advance that he was ending his career should he pull that stunt again.

      Those extra conditions would truly give ‘teeth’ to FIFA’s actions.

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    • Italians have a history of dirtying up the game but I hate all this talk of the Italians and had this coming and Chiellini deserved to be bitten. Despite Italy’s long earned reputation for diving and time wasting etc. no one deserves to be bitten.

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  5. Amazingly there is a small minority of people that do not see biting as big of a deal as FIFA and most fans have said it is. I look at other physical sports and what there rules say about biting and other extra curricular actions. No sport tolerates it but the biggest one to me is MMA (UFC). UFC does not tolerate eye poking, genital grabbing and biting. If you’re disqualified in UFC for biting an opponent then it should not be tolerated in soccer.

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  6. Suarez got what he wanted. He got to beat England, put his country through to the next round, rest his operated knees, and gave Liverpool a face-saving way to let him play someplace else. Liverpool didn’t really want to sell him because they normally can’t afford his quality of footballer, but now they can say adios without alienating their fans, while Barcelona, with deep pockets, can absorb the downtime. If the deal with the other club happens despite the bite, I think we can say he’s not just a cannibal, but a very astute machiavellian one at that. It was totally premeditated and FIFA should’ve given him a year.

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    • And both he and his team are spinning it off as a European conspiracy against somebody who “just has a different kind of foul” than the Europeans use. Pretty low for the team to play it that way.

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      • The attitude of the team and coach says all I need to know about this Uruguay squad. They’re myopia will be their downfall and I can’t wait til they get sent packing.

  7. I was hoping realistically for 6 months but I will take 4 and the national team ban. I think he will miss around a dozen Liverpool games and hopefully Uruguay loses their next match in this tournament and does horrible in their federation tournament.

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  8. I hope Real Madrid signs him. That will be great to see LS9 with CR7 and GB11. The defenders will be afraid, very afraid!

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  9. He bit someone. He didn’t Karate Kick someone. He wasn’t doping. He didn’t blow up someone nor did he vote for George Bush. He’s not John Terry, he should be scot free due to that last thing.

    They punished him. Let the anger go.

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    • I agree, let the anger go.

      Now Suarez can concentrate on replacing all the endorsement contracts he’s likely to lose. Here’s my plan for that.

      First, public service announcements in the States, with Suarez and McGruff taking a bite out of crime together.

      Then, Suarez wearing a Dracula cape, showing maximum revulsion in Gilroy, CA, the U.S. garlic capital. “So strong, you’ll never have to worry about Suarez.”

      From there, maybe a Sicilian olive oil exporter – “because who doesn’t like the taste of Italian?”

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      • How about an endorsement for a rabbies drug manufacturer or a company that makes snake bite kits or the satellite dish things people put on their dogs so they don’t bite and scratch themselves. Let’s not forget a muzzle endorsement. He could also work at an airport or at border crossings alongside trained patrol dogs. Oh, what about pimping dentures? So many possibilities.

    • Very light punishment in my opinion. 1 year was needed for this clown – and professional help (anger management) before returning to play.

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  10. Not long enough, in my opinion. The punishment would have more – ahem – teeth if suspension included the rest of the WC and four full months of the Prem season. As it stands, at least one month of the suspension is just preseason training. Big whoop.

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  11. Anybody anywhere defending Suarez is absolutely insane. I love how he plays the game when he’s not being a racist vampire. But this is just ridiculous. Uruguay should be ashamed. Liverpool should be ashamed. I’m sure Liverpool is just staying silent now in the hopes that this can blow over and they can sell him but still. I’ll take Mario Ballotelli’s antics any day over this.

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    • I agree, I mean this is basically going to be a repeat of last offseason for him. That penalty was insufficient to change his ways.

      I think he should have been banned through the holiday season, when eating anything not nailed down becomes culturally acceptable. He should also play wearing a Hannibal mask.

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    • Right there with you. Not long enough. FIFA obviously subscribes to the Major League Baseball punishment guide: Do no harm to the bottom line.

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      • Are you really going to let players go Mike Tyson in international matches? It’s beyond the pale. You don’t touch the ref, you don’t attack the fans, and you don’t go berzerk on fellow players. Fight, maybe. But this is bizarre.

        Cantona had his reasons, the reason we punish that so harshly is to impose a “wall” no matter what, and to make the average ticket buyer not fear some brawl is going into the stands a la Pacers Pistons. Quick way to ruin the sport would be if fans were afraid to show.

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