Soccer: Suarez banned for nine games, four months

Uruguay striker bit Italy's Chiellini

(ANSA) - Rome, June 26 - FIFA said Thursday that it has banned Uruguay striker Luis Suarez for nine international matches and suspended him from all football activity for four months for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in his side's 1-0 win at the World Cup on Tuesday. TV replays showed Suarez sink his teeth into Chiellini's shoulder in an off-the-ball incident. The Juventus centre-back had teeth marks to show he was bitten.

The incident took place shortly before Uruguay defender Diego Godin scored the goal that ensured the South America side would win the decisive Group D match and progress to the last 16, while Italy were sent packing.

Liverpool striker Suarez's third ban for biting means he will take no further part in the World Cup in Brazil. He was also fined 100,000 Swiss Francs. "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.

Suarez was also banned for 10 games last year after biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match and in 2010 he was suspended for seven games for a similar offence against PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax Amsterdam. Italy were furious at the referee for missing the biting incident and for his 59th-minute sending off of midfielder Claudio Marchisio for a dangerous challenge.

Most Italian commentators say the foul was a yellow-card offence at the most, although replays did show Marchisio's studs land on the leg of Uruguay's Egidio Arevalo Rios. The Azzurri's early exit from the World Cup prompted coach Cesare Prandelli and Italian Soccer Federation President Giancarlo Abete to quit. The squad returned to Italy on Thursday.