Luis Suárez, the enigmatic striker from Uruguay, has been banned for nine games and suspended from all soccer-related activities for four months after he was accused of biting an opponent that marred his team’s 1-0 World Cup victory over Italy, FIFA officials announced on Thursday morning.
Suárez, who was suspended twice previously for biting opponents during league games in the Netherlands and England, will miss the rest of the World Cup and the start of the English Premier League season.
Suárez’s suspension is the harshest penalty for on-field action in World Cup history, surpassing the eight-game ban imposed on Mauro Tassotti of Italy in 1994 after he broke an opponent’s nose with a vicious elbow.
“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,” Claudio Sulser, the chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee, said in a statement.
Suárez’s latest incident happened near the end of a match on Tuesday in which Uruguay and Italy both struggled to generate many attacking chances.
Ten minutes before the end of the game, with the score tied 0-0, Suárez ran into the penalty area and collided with Italy’s defender, Giorgio Chiellini.
Suárez appeared to drop his face into Chiellini’s shoulder and Chiellini immediately recoiled as both players fell to the ground.
Chiellini pulled his shirt collar to the side and tried to show the referee bite marks on his shoulder while Suárez rolled on the ground, seemingly feigning a painful injury.
Afterward, Chiellini condemned Suárez for what he said was a painful chomp.
“Suárez is a sneak,” Chiellini said. “I’d love to see if FIFA has the courage to use video evidence against him.”
Suárez denied that he bit Chiellini.
He said he ran into his shoulder and “nothing more” but FIFA announced late on Tuesday night that its disciplinary panel would open an investigation into the incident and would use all resources, including video replays, to make its decision.
While Uruguay’s coach, Óscar Tabárez, and some of Suárez’s teammates staunchly defended him, reaction from soccer officials around the world seemed to indicate little patience with Suárez considering his previous history.
Suárez was barred for seven games in 2010 after biting an opponent while playing for the Dutch team, Ajax.
That earned him the nickname Cannibal of Ajax from a Dutch newspaper.
Suárez then moved to the English club, Liverpool.
And in 2013, he was caught on video biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
He was suspended for 10 games.
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