Luis Suarez Wants FIFA Committee to Apologise for His Ban
Uruguay's star forward Luis Suarez was handed a nine-match ban with his national team for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup match last year.
Uruguay forward Luis Suarez is hoping at least one member of FIFA's disciplinary committee will admit they were wrong for imposing an "exaggerated" suspension on him for biting an Italian defender in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
"The people on the committee know the suspension was exaggerated," Xinhua quoted Suarez as saying on Friday.
"They know it. Just as I regret it and I said I was wrong I would like that one of them would say at some point: 'we gave you this suspension and we were wrong'. This would be the most fair and the most respectable (outcome)," added Suarez.
FIFA forced the FC Barcelona star to abandon the Uruguay team in Brazil and they imposed a four-month suspension on him in all football activities and a nine-match ban with his national team (he still has four more matches to miss). He is also forbidden to train with the team and play in friendly matches.
Suarez said the suspension may have been motivated by political interests as he highlighted the fact that one of FIFA's disciplinary committee members is imprisoned in Switzerland for alleged acts of corruption.
"I don't know if mine (punishment) had to do with something political," said the former Liverpool star striker.
"This situation of taking formal action against the littlest things that players do on the pitch and having the cameras capture everything is complicated," said the 28-year-old while holidaying in Uruguay before returning to Barcelona for pre-season training.