LONDON. — Fifa has rejected an appeal from Luis Suarez against his four-month worldwide ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini. Suarez and the Uruguayan Football Association challenged the ban — and a nine-match international suspension — handed out after Suarez attacked Chiellini during his country’s World Cup game against Italy.

Uruguayan FA president Wilmar Valdez called the sanctions “totally exaggerated”, but Fifa’s Appeal Committee has now upheld the original decision.

A Fifa statement read: “The Appeal Committee has decided to reject the appeals lodged by both the Uruguayan player Luis Suarez and the Uruguayan FA, and to confirm the decision rendered by the Fifa Disciplinary Committee on 25 June 2014 in its entirety.

“The terms of the decision taken by the Fifa Appeal Committee were communicated to the player and the Uruguayan FA today.”

Suarez, who is expected to leave Liverpool for Barcelona in the near future, can still take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Kop ace Suarez is set to complete a move to Barcelona within days after the two clubs agreed a fee for the wantaway striker.

The upholding of his lengthy ban is not expected to cause the deal to collapse, although it will leave the Catalan giants light in attack in light of the spinal injury suffered by Neymar at the World Cup.

Suarez is, meanwhile, on the brink of officially completing his sensational transfer from Liverpool to Barcelona after the terms of a deal worth just over £70 million were agreed on Wednesday night.

The agreement comes after a week of negotiations between the clubs, with an announcement expected in the coming days – perhaps even within 24 hours.

Barcelona have captured Suarez in a straight cash deal after agreeing to meet the release clause in the Liverpool contract he signed last December.

It is believed that Suarez will undergo initial medical examinations from Barca doctors in his native Uruguay, where he has been staying following his country’s elimination from the World Cup. Officials from the Catalan club have been negotiating with their counterparts from Merseyside in the last week over the structure of payments in the deal, with Liverpool pushing for a higher initial sum.

An agreement has now been reached and the final formalities will be completed before Suarez is announced as Barcelona’s marquee signing of the summer. — Goal.com

 

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