Liverpool’s Luis Suarez handed nine-game and four-month ban

Luis Suarez’s World Cup is over after the Uruguay striker was suspended for nine international games and banned for four months from any football-related activity by Fifa for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

An independent disciplinary committee imposed the suspension and ban after finding the 27-year-old guilty of misconduct during Uruguay’s 1-0 win over Italy on Tuesday.

“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,” said Claudio Sulser chairman of the Fifa disciplinary committee.

“The disciplinary committee took into account all the factors of the case and the degree of Mr Suárez’s guilt in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Code. The decision comes into force as soon it is communicated.”

Suarez, who has already been banned twice in his career for biting opponents, has also been handed a £65,700 fine for the incident.

A statement read: “The Fifa disciplinary committee has decided that:

“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 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 World Cup matches, 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 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. 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.”