Luis Suárez gets four-month ban for biting Italy`s Chiellini

Zee Media Bureau/Rajdeep Saha

Natal: World governing body Fifa have imposed a four-month footballing ban on Uruguay striker Luis Suarez for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini. Fifa issued a statement banning Luis Suarez for nine matches & four months from all football activity. The independent disciplinary committee imposed the suspension after finding the 27-year-old guilty of misconduct.

BREAKING: #URU's Luis Suarez suspended for nine matches and banned for four months from any football-related activity. MORE TO FOLLOW

— FIFAWorldCup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 26, 2014

Suarez has also been banned for nine international matches, ruling him out of the rest of the World Cup. The incident occurred during Tuesday`s 2014 Fifa World Cup Group D game, which Uruguay won to qualify for the last 16. The Liverpool striker was also fined 100,000 Swiss francs. A statement from FIFA said that, "Such behaviour cannot be tolerated." FIFA also confirmed that only competitive internationals count towards the nine game ban. Earlier, Suarez was punished twice for similar incidents in 2010 and 2013 in club football. In 2010 when playing for Ajax, Suarez bit PSV Eindhoven`s, Otman Bakkal. In 2013, he then bit Chelsea`s Branislav Ivanovic in an EPL match between Chelsea and Liverpool. Later on there was a media release on Luis Suarez issued by soccer`s world governing body FIFA on Thursday. Luis Suarez suspended for nine matches and banned for four months from any football-related activity The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has reached a decision in the case related to Luis Suarez of Uruguay following an incident that occurred during the FIFA World Cup™ match between Italy and Uruguay played on 24 June 2014. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided that: The player Luis Suarez 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 Suarez 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 Suarez 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 Suarez in accordance with art. 21 of the FDC as follows: the player Luis Suarez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium during the period of the ban (point 3). The player Luis Suarez 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 Suarez is ordered to pay a fine in the amount of CHF 100,000. The decision was notified to the player and the Uruguayan FA on Thursday. “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 Suarez`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. With inputs from Reuters