FIFA Confirms Luis Suarez Banned Till 2016

FC Barcelona star Luis Suarez will not play for Uruguay until 2016 after the player’s request to have his suspension reduced was rejected by FIFA.

The FC Barcelona striker was punished for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at last year’s World Cup when he was playing for Uruguay. The former Liverpool FC man wrote a formal letter to world football’s governing body earlier this month in the hope of seeing his ban reduced.

FIFA reject Suarez appeal to reduce ban

But FIFA has confirmed that any appeal will not be considered with the disciplinary panel’s verdict on the ban final.

A FIFA spokesperson said: “As the decision in the relevant case was final and binding, FIFA was not in a position to enter into the merits of the recent request submitted by the Uruguayan FA and Luis Suarez.”

Luis Suarez had made appeals last year to both FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport which had proven to be unsuccessful.

The Uruguayan Footballers’ Union also said it was considering a further appeal following allegations of corruption within FIFA, but, any question of the uplifting of the ban seems to have now been answered with FIFA refusing to reconsider it.

Suarez was initially banned from training with his new club FC Barcelona and was given a 4 month ban from any football related activity and a 9 game international ban which was then reduced on appeal to CAS as the player was allowed to train with his new club

Switzerland-based CAS had remarked, despite upholding the FIFA ban, that preventing Suarez from taking part in any football activity was “excessive”, as not allowing him to train would have an impact on the player after the suspension had ended.

World players’ union Fifpro said it was “disappointed that the court had decided not to strongly diminish the sanctions” and “remain of the view they are disproportionate in relation to his violation of the Fifa disciplinary code”.

Well, the latest attempt by Luis Suarez to get himself available for his beloved national team which struggled in the Copa America without him has failed, but, atleast the player has had a proper pre-season for once and will be starting the new season without a ban for the first time in three years.