According to the Associated Press, Luis Suarez's appeal against his wide-ranging ban for biting a player during the Uruguay-Italy match at the World Cup has been rejected by FIFA. On Thursday, the world soccer body stated that its appeals committee had refused the entirety of the appeal Suarez and the Uruguay Football Association has filed.
On the other hand, AP said that Suarez still ha a chance to play on the opening day of the professional football league season. The Liverpool star reportedly has up to 10 days to get the written decision from FIFA, on which he needs in order to lodge an appeal against the four-month football and international match ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Once he lodges the appeal, Suarez could apply for an immediate freeze of the FIFA sanctions to CAS. Should that be the case, AP said that Suarez will be allowed to train and play with his football club until a final verdict has been reached.
The ban is costly for a football superstar like Suarez. Apart from not being able to play for nine competitive matches abroad, he is also banned from all football-related activities for biting the shoulder of Italian player Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 win in a group-stage match in Brazil. Majority of the professional league, including Chiellini, has dubbed the FIFA sanctions as too excessive for the incident.
AP said that the ban would be the third Suarez has received for biting an opponent, of which FIFA has emphasized to support its ban on the football star. The biting has also occurred in both Ajax in the Dutch league and also in the English Premier League as a Liverpool player. The biting incident also garnered international attention when referees assigned to the match failed to spot the biting, and that FIFA's disciplinary committee had to review match tapes before charging Suarez.
