Luis Suarez’s Appeal to be heard on August 8
Opeyemi Oladunjoye
Luis Suarez’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against his four-month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini will be heard on 8 August.
The appeal has been filed by Suarez, Uruguay and Barcelona, the Spanish club he joined last month in a £75m transfer from Liverpool. An initial appeal against the 27-year-old’s suspension was rejected by FIFA.
CAS has agreed to speed up the case, and a verdict could be announced by the end of the week after the hearing. Barcelona’s first match of the new La Liga season is on 24 August, but if the ban is upheld, Suarez will be out until late October and his first match for the spanish club could be against Real Madrid.
Under the terms of the suspension, he is banned from “any football-related activity”, which means he cannot train with his club or enter the confines of any stadium, although players’ union, FIFPRO argues the details “lack clarity”.
Suarez is also banned from playing for the national team for nine matches and was fined 100,000 Swiss francs (£66,000).
