BREAKING NEWS: Luis Suarez banned for nine matches and four months from ALL football for biting Italian defender

• Liverpool and Uruguay striker Suarez banned from football for four months
• He will also miss Uruguay's next nine Fifa international matches
• Will miss start of Premier League and three Champions League matches 

By Chris Pleasance

Luis Suarez has been banned from all football for four months and nine Fifa international matches after biting an Italian defender.

Fifa made the ruling after footage emerged of Uruguay striker Suarez biting down on the shoulder of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in the 80th minute of their World Cup clash.

The ban will mean he misses the rest of the international tournament, including Uruguay's last 16 match against Colombia on Saturday, and the start of the Premier League next season.

Luis Suarez (pictured today) has been banned for four months from all football meaning he will miss the start of the Premier League and cannot train with Liverpool

The ban also sees him miss the next nine Uruguay matches, including Saturday's last 16 clash with Colombia

Suarez bit Chiellini as the two competed for a cross during the World Cup match between Uruguay and Italy, a game that Uruguay went on to win

'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 Claudio Sulser, chairman of the Fifa disciplinary committee.

The nine-game ban will serve during Uruguay's next nine fixtures, including the game against Colombia, while the four month ban will exclude him from all football activities until late October.

More...

• Once bitten: Chiellini pokes fun at Suarez bite as he posts picture of hotel maid ‘biting’ his shoulder – but Uruguay striker may not be laughing as his sponsors mull deserting him
• England and Italy are blowing 'bite' storm out of proportion says Suarez's lawyer as pictures reveal disgraced striker's previous 'attack' on SAME player a year ago
• The world bites back: Suarez parodied as Jaws, Dracula and Hannibal as jokes go viral

By banning Suarez from all football activities, Fifa also prohibited Suarez from even entering a stadium at the World Cup.

SUAREZ: 'THE CANNIBAL OF AJAX'

Suarez has a highly controversial history as a player.
In 2010 he earned the nickname the cannibal of Ajx after drawing blood from the shoulder of PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal, receiving a seven match ban.
At the end of the 2012-13 season he was banned from another ten games after biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic on the forearm.
In 2011, Suárez received an eight-match ban and was fined for racially abusing French defender Patrice Evra in a match against Manchester United after calling him a 'Negro' or 'Negros' seven times during the game.
In another 2010 incident Suarez was guilty of pulling off one of the World Cup's most glaring fouls when he cleared a goal-bound header from Ghana off the line with his hand late in extra time.
Suarez, was sent off, but hung around near the tunnel to watch Ghana's Asamoah Gyan miss the penalty and then celebrated frantically.
He later boasted: 'Truth is it was worth it.'

It also stops him from even training with Liverpool until the ban ends in late October.

'He cannot be actively involved' with a club, Fifa spokeswoman Delia Fischer said.

Suarez and the Uruguay football federation can appeal the sanctions, though Liverpool could not be formally involved in any legal challenge, Fischer said.

The four-month ban includes Liverpool's first three Champions League group-stage games in the five-time European champion's return after a five-year absence.

Suarez will also miss the first nine matches of the Premier League and has been ruled out of next year's Copa America.

Officials also fined the Liverpool striker 100,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to £65,000.

Fischer said Suarez would still be allowed transfer to a different club during the ban, but would not be able to play for a new club until the sanction ends.

Fischer said any appeal must first go to the Fifa appeal committee. If rejected, Suarez and Uruguay could take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

At CAS, Suarez could first appeal to have the sanctions frozen during the process which would clear him to return early for Liverpool.
The Uruguay Football Association have said they will decide in the coming hours whether to appeal the ban.
Ian Ayre, chief executive officer of Liverpool Football Club, said: 'The club will wait until we have seen and had time to review the FIFA Disciplinary Committee report before making any further comment.'

Luis Suarez has been banned from all football for four months and nine games after biting an Italian defender

The latest ban marks the third time Suarez has been barred from football for biting - he bit PSV's Otman Bakkal in 2010, and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic at the end of the 2012-13 season

While the ban does not stop Suarez from moving teams this summer, it is expected to put an end to his hopes of moving to FC Barcelona, as he will be unable to pay their opening matches.

The latest ban marks the third time that the married father-of-two has been barred from playing because of biting.

He was suspended for seven games in 2010 after biting down on the shoulder of PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal while playing for Dutch club Ajax in 2010.

At the end of the 2012-13 season he was banned for a further ten games after biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic on the forearm.

The Uruguayan, who scored the two goals that effectively ended England’s World Cup hopes, was watched by millions of TV viewers plunging his mouth towards Chiellini’s shoulder on Tuesday night.

The Italian player pulled down his shirt to reveal a red bite mark, but the referee took no action and Suarez was allowed to continue playing.

The ban means Liverpool striker Suarez will miss the opening of the Premier League next season, the first three matches of the Champions League and the Copa America

Suarez will also miss Uruguay's next nine matches including their last 16 clash with Colombia on Saturday

Uruguay then scored to go through to the tournament’s knock-out stages at Italy’s expense.

Suarez’s lawyer yesterday claimed that European football chiefs were trying to have the striker banned. Alejandro Balbi told Uruguayan radio: ‘We don’t have any doubts that this has happened because it’s Suarez and secondly because Italy was eliminated.

'There’s a lot of pressure from England and Italy.’

The lawyer, who is a board member of Uruguay’s football association, also suggested Suarez was being targeted because he threatened other nations’ chances of winning the World Cup, including those of hosts Brazil.

WHAT ARE THE RULES? HOW FIFA FOUND AGAINST LUIS SUAREZ

Fifa found Suarez breached articles 48 and 57 of the Disciplinary Code in deciding his ban, and  Article 136 explains how he was banned from all football.
48 - MISCONDUCT AGAINST OPPONENTS OR PERSONS OTHER THAN MATCH OFFICIALS
(1) Including the automatic suspension incurred in accordance with art. 18 par. 4, any recipient of a direct red card shall be suspended as follows:
a) one match for denying the opposing team a clear goal-scoring opportunity (particularly by deliberately handling the ball);
b) at least one match for serious foul play (particularly in the case of excessive or brute force);
c) at least one match for unsporting conduct towards an opponent or a person other than a match official (subject to art. 53, 54 and 57-60);
d) at least two matches for assaulting (elbowing, punching, kicking etc.) an opponent or a person other than a match official;
e) at least six matches for spitting at an opponent or a person other than a match official.
(2) A fine may also be imposed in all cases.
(3) The right is reserved to punish an infringement in accordance with art. 77 a).
57 - OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR AND FAIR PLAY
Anyone who insults someone in any way, especially by using offensive gestures or language, or who violates the principles of fair play or whose behaviour is unsporting in any other way may be subject to sanctions in accordance with art. 10 ff.
136 - REQUEST
(1) If the infringement is serious, in particular but not limited to doping (cf. art. 63), unlawfully infl uencing match results (cf. art. 69), misconduct against match officials (cf. art. 49), forgery and falsification (cf. art. 61) or violation of the rules governing age limits (cf. art. 68 a), the associations, confederations, and other organising sports bodies shall request Fifa to extend the sanctions they have imposed so as to have worldwide effect.
(2) Any doping-related legally binding sanction imposed by another international sports association, national anti-doping organisation or any other state body that complies with fundamental legal principles shall automatically be adopted by Fifa and, provided that the requirements described hereunder are met, may in principle be extended by Fifa to have worldwide effect.
(3) The request shall be submitted in writing and enclose a certified copy matching the decision. It shall show the name and address of the person who has been sanctioned and that of the club and the association concerned.
(4) If the judicial bodies of Fifa discover that associations, confederations and other sports organisations have not requested a decision to be extended to have worldwide effect, these bodies may themselves pass a decision.