Luis Suárez Ban: Victim Giorgio Chiellini Calls ‘Excessive’ FIFA Punishment On Uruguayan Striker

On Tuesday, June 24 during the World Cup match of Italy vs. Uruguay at the Dunas arena in Natal, Brazil, everyone watched in shock as Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in one of the most dramatic games so far. Uruguay ended up beating Italy 1-0 and advancing into the Round of 16. Italy was eliminated from the tournament. Although the biting incident came as a surprise for some, Suárez has a reputation of being a biter, and has already been suspended twice in the past for doing that.

FIFA’s disciplinary committee banned the Uruguayan striker from all soccer related activities for four months and from nine international matches. Organizers also fined Suárez with $112,000 USD. “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 [round of 16] FIFA World Cup fixture between Colombia and Uruguay,” FIFA said in a statement.

“The remaining match suspensions shall be served in Uruguay's next FIFA World Cup matches, as long as the team qualifies, and/or in the representative team's subsequent official matches.” This means that the Uruguay football federation is left without its star striker for next year's Copa América, and most likely for the start of its qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup. After Suárez’s punishment was announced, the victim Giorgio Chiellini deemed them “excessive.”

“Now inside me there are no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suárez for an incident, which happened on the pitch and is done,” Chiellini wrote in his blog for Sportlobster. “There only remains the anger and the disappointment about the match. At the moment, my only thought is for Luis and his family, because they will face a very difficult period.”

“I have always unequivocally considered the disciplinary interventions by the competent bodies, but at the same time I believe the proposed formula is excessive. I sincerely hope he will be allowed to stay close to his teammates during the games, because such a ban is really alienating for a player.”