Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was banned for nine matches by FIFA on Thursday for biting an opponent at the World Cup, ruling him out of the rest of the tournament and the beginning of the upcoming British Premier League season. Suarez also was suspended from any football-related activity for four months and fined 100,000 Swiss francs, or $111,000. The nine-game international ban goes beyond the next four months and rules Suarez out of next year's Copa America. The ban is effective immediately, meaning he will miss Uruguay's round-of-16 game against Colombia on Saturday. Television footage showed Suarez bit Italy defender Giorgio Chielini during Uruguay's 1-0 win in the group stage. The referee in the match did not call a penalty. The Uruguayan has twice before been suspended for biting opponents during club matches. "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," Claudio Sulser, the chairman of the international football governing body's disciplinary committee, said in a statement from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "The disciplinary committee took note account all the factors of the case and the degree of Mr. Suarez's guilt in accordance with the relevant provisions of the [FIFA] code," Sulser wrote.
