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Court allows Suarez to train, mostly upholds suspension

LuisSuarezCASMeeting1 (AFP)

By DAN KARELL

Luis Suarez’s final appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was decided upon on Thursday, and the result was a win-win for all parties involved.

The court upheld FIFA’s four-month suspension of Suarez but said that it only applied to official matches, leaving the Uraguayan free to join his new Barcelona teammates in training, to be officially introduced by the club, and to play in the club’s friendly matches before his suspension ends on Oct. 26.

Suarez now could debut for Barcelona as early as Monday, in the club’s final preseason match in the Joan Gamper trophy against Mexican side Club Leon.

While the court said that the FIFA suspensions were “generally proportionate” to Suarez’s actions, it called the complete the ban from all soccer activities “excessive.”

”However, the 4-month suspension will apply to official matches only and no longer to other football-related activities (such as training, promotional activities and administrative matters),” the court wrote in a statement.

The court did fully uphold FIFA’s international ban on Suarez, ruling him out of next summer’s Copa America as well as the start of Uruguay’s World Cup qualifying campaign. Suarez is still suspended for another eight international matches.

On June 24, Suarez was caught on video biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in Uruguay’s 1-0 World Cup group stage victory over the Italians. Suarez was not disciplined by the referee but was suspended by FIFA prior to his next game. Suarez initially denied biting Chiellini but a few days later admitted his actions and apologized for it.

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What do you think of the ruling? Agree with it? Think that the initial suspension was too harsh? Think they should have repealed the suspensions fully?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Don’t understand why Suarez’s club team is paying for something he did on international duty. He should be banned from the National team for that # of games, not his club team. He did the deed on club time, then he should pay for it on club time.

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    • I’ve read where he eats posters of incoherent drivel on soccer website comment sections, with fava beans and the obligatory nice kee-anty.

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  2. Letting him train is a huge win for him. CAS seems to have just substituted its own subjective view rather than applying any legal principles. BS.

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  3. This does not set a good precedent. Biting can communicate disease, which is why it’s so taboo. A hard tackle can be serious, but you won’t be stuck with Hepatitis or HIV for the rest of your life from it.

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  4. Win-win? After the third time biting someone, and initially saying he fell into them?! He should have been banned from soccer, entirely, for at least a year. There are no excuses, good to see players around the world getting a great lesson in what is more important in soccer–money wins.

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  5. SO UNFAIR.

    Rooney lashed out at a player in Euro qualifying and was banned from group stage of euro 2012 but he appealed and got it dropped to 2 games banned.

    why all the hate on Suarez?

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      • A game-related ban was insufficient before. I thought the broader ban appropriate to convey more condemnation and punishment for repeat offense in something not part of the game.

        Relenting on the commercial aspect in particular allows Barca to reap commercial benefit from a player who can’t play for the team.

        What makes sense to me is ban him up to 2 weeks before his match ban expires, then let him train and start appearing in public for the team. But this basically sets up a Liverpool scenario where he trains and busts out of the gate fast as soon as allowed to play, defeating some of the punishment effect.

      • i don’t have any problem with the purely game-related ban (although i would’ve been happier if it was a 1-year ban).

        fifa would be getting into murky waters telling a club who they can or can’t involve in their private training sessions.

        but any fifa-affiliated event? hell yes. which is why i’m puzzled about him getting to play in friendlies–i would assume they’re still under fifa jurisdiction.

      • Honestly from a violence standpoint what rooney did previously and actually what marouanne fellaini does every time hes on the pitch is worse than what suarez did. Its just the blatant disrespect with biting, even though its not meant to be, it’s just his first reaction when he gets into a tussle, he needs help. As a barca fan I wasnt a huge fan of the buy but hes on my club now, so i have to support him. I thought the punishment is fair, i didnt think it was fair he couldnt train before, im happy that he can now. A lot of the off the playing field stuff he shouldnt have gotten drilled on, like the training or not being allowed in the stadium. He didnt kill anyone here

      • Why do you have to support him now that he’s at your club? Isn’t the whole idea of Barca is to be more than a club? How does this fit in with that motto?

      • Disagree, hard tackling and physical play, while perhaps sufficient to earn cards, are essentially part of the game. Biting is not in any possible way part of the game. A well-timed bite or a light bite is not any more legal. A well-timed or light tackle is either completely legal or subject to light sanction, such as a simple free kick.

        This is not ballet or touch football, biting someone is not the same thing as getting stuck in.

    • Cuz he bit a guy. Again. 4th offense.

      It’s not “hate” (Really?????), it’s reality: if Nibbles Magee can’t figure out how not to chomp on people in the middle of a dadgum game, he either needs to have his teeth pulled like the snow monster on that Christmas special, or he needs to find a internship with the forestry service where he can gnaw away all day long on trees like a bug, furry beaver.

      Reply

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