Luis Suárez

[TheElephantMan]

Don't tell me you think any other club will see this this as anything more than our, and more specifically Suarez's problem. Or that any other person anywhere will see this as anything more than our, and more specifically Suarez's problem. And they'd be ****ing right.

A club will look to manage risk and a new precedent has been set. There have been other instances of violent conduct during this World Cup and incidents during previous WCs that have been much more violent, but now there is a new punishment for violent conduct that affects domestic games as well as international games. This decision has been made without any real thought. I'm sure other clubs will become more wary of the possibility of losing important players for domestic games due to indiscretions happening whilst playing for another club in a completely separate competition. International football has nothing to do with domestic football.

[Gibbo]

It's half and half for me.

On the one hand it could lower the daft ban, on the other if could be lengthy and make the club look like whoppers, again.

[marcus50bucks]

Liverpool bite back at Luis Suárez ban

Oliver Kay Chief Football Correspondent, Rio de Janeiro
Published 1 minute ago

Anfield club consider legal action against Fifa

Liverpool joined the Uruguayan FA in considering legal action against Fifa after Luis Suárez received a four-month ban from football for biting an opponent.

The Liverpool and Uruguay forward has left the World Cup in disgrace, preparing to fly home to Montevideo after being told that he is not allowed to play in, or attend, his nation’s next nine matches or even to stay in the team hotel in Brazil. He has been banned for Uruguay’s next nine international matches and fined Sw Fr 100,000 [about £66,000].

Liverpool are furious that Suárez’s punishment has been extended to a four-month global ban from “any football-related activity” after he bit Giorgio Chiellini, the Italy defender, on Tuesday during the 1-0 victory that took Uruguay through to the knockout stages to face Colombia tomorrow.

Suárez will appeal against his immediate suspension, with Wilmar Valez, the Uruguayan FA president, saying that “it feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup”, but anger is also being felt at Liverpool. Boardroom sources said that the club would explore the possibility of a lawsuit against Fifa over the decision to widen Suárez’s punishment to club football.

Ian Ayre, the chief executive, said that Liverpool will wait until they have read a full report from Fifa’s disciplinary committee before deciding on their next step, but there is already a strong and growing sense of anger at Suárez’s punishment. They are particularly unhappy that an incident that occurred during Fifa competition, for which Suárez had been released by his club, could result in suspension at club level.

A four-month ban from all football-related activity — which, according to Fifa, would include even training, as well as attending or playing in matches, but would not preclude a transfer — would cause Suárez to miss the remainder of the World Cup and several matches thereafter, but it would also keep him out of action at club level until late October. As things stand, he would miss Liverpool’s first nine Barclays Premier League matches but could potentially return to action for the fourth round of the Capital One Cup, at the end of October.

The matter is complicated by interest in Suárez from Barcelona, which does not appear to have been dampened by the controversy.
Claudio Sulser, the chairman of Fifa’s disciplinary committee, said: “Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch and, in particular, not at the Fifa World Cup.”
Valez said that the Uruguayan FA will appeal, calling it an “excessive decision”, for which there was “not enough evidence”, but they accept that he will not play against Colombia tomorrow.

Adidas, the sportswear firm, said that it supported Fifa’s decision and that it would discuss its commercial partnership with Suárez after the World Cup.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/international/article4131509.ece

[I, Ravel Morrison]

^ Yeah not too sure taking it to court, especially if we're alone on this without speaking to other big clubs on the matter.

[ChesterDave]

I don't think the rules allow FIFA to extend the ban but not sure that would count for much. They would probably do it anyway.

[Cormack74]

You have to wait for your case to be heard. And you would be suspended from all competitions until it is.

But the CL isn't a FIFA competition. Would this not be down to UEFA?

[ChesterDave]

Adidas, the sportswear firm, said that it supported Fifa’s decision and that it would discuss its commercial partnership with Suárez after the World Cup.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/international/article4131509.ece

After they have released a very opportune billboard and milked the publicity

[Kenneth]

There's a lot of money at stake. Nobody takes a hit of possibly tens of millions of pounds without challenging it as much as they can get away with. I think we're making our case strongly prior to the Uruguay appeal. After that will come the nitty gritty and I wouldn't rule out some form of legal challenge.

[ChesterDave]

But the CL isn't a FIFA competition. Would this not be down to UEFA?

Nope. Not as I understood it from the Sion case. FIFA stuck their oar in.

[ChesterDave]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/15793733

[Cormack74]

Nope. Not as I understood it from the Sion case. FIFA stuck their oar in.

Having had the briefest of looks the Sion case appears to be about technical breaches and does not have the same subjectivity as this. I won't pretend to know for sure but I would suspect the parallels are not sufficiently strong.

[TheElephantMan]

I don't think the rules allow FIFA to extend the ban but not sure that would count for much. They would probably do it anyway.

If you read FIFA's rules http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affe...scoinhalte.pdf it appears that punishments can be extended to national leagues. I am amazed that this situation can be accepted - giving a player permission to play for their country carries the risk of possible injury to the player, but this high profile situation will alert clubs to the fact that FIFA can ban a player from their club's domestic games!

[Le Chef]

A colleague in the US who tracks media markets has suggested the incident has invoked greater coverage in both North and South America which will effectively profit FIFA further from this incident. Bizarre

[Chazza]

I can't imagine any challenge from us will end well.

[Leyton388]

Sounds like we're going to go all guns blazing on this and rightly so IMO.