Luis Suarez Banned For 4 Months By FIFA – Here’s The 9 Premiership Games He’ll Miss

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has been slapped with a 9 game international ban and a four month ban from all football by FIFA this afternoon.

Suarez hit the headlines once again for the wrong reasons on Tuesday night after biting Italian defender Georgio Chiellini during the final stages of Uruguay’s 1-0 win.

FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against the striker and after viewing all the video and photographic evidence, football’s governing body has dished out the punishment this afternoon.

FIFA confirmed Suarez is banned from ALL football activity for four months and for nine international matches, while he’s also been fined 100,000 Swiss francs (£66,000).

A statement on FIFA.com read:

· The player Luis Suárez 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 Suárez 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 Suárez 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 Suárez in accordance with art. 21 of the FDC as follows: the player Luis Suárez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium during the period of the ban (point 3). The player Luis Suárez 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 Suárez is ordered to pay a fine in the amount of CHF 100,000.

As it stands, Suarez will be banned from all footballing activity for four months starting from today, so he’ll be unavailable to Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers until the 26th October.

In total, the striker will miss at least 9 Premier League fixtures which will include games against Southampton, Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa, West Ham, Everton, West Brom, QPR and Hull, but he’d be able to return for the trip to Newcastle on November 1st.

However, it’s unlikely he will be match fit for the trip to St James’ Park as he’s also banned from training with the rest of the squad during the four months, so he’ll need some time to get his sharpness back when he does return in late October.

The 27-year-old will also be banned for League Cup and Champions League fixtures during the four months, so Liverpool have certainly been hit hard by this latest ban.

As I understand it, Suarez and the Uruguayan FA have the right to appeal which would postpone the punishments until the hearing was finalised, but it remains to be seen whether an appeal will be lodged.

Ideally for Liverpool, Suarez should accept the ban as if he appeals it will delay his ban taking effect, and if the appeal was unsuccessful – which is likely in this case – it would mean his ban kicking in closer to the start of the new season resulting in him missing even more LFC fixtures.

What do you make of the punishment? Share your thoughts below…