When FIFA said that Luis Suarez was banned from all football-related activity for four months as punishment for using the World Cup to complete his opponent biting trifecta, it turns out they really meant all football-related activity. Suarez completed a £75 million ($128 million) transfer from Liverpool to Barca on Friday, but his new club will not be able to hold their usual public unveiling of their big money signing because of his ban.
FIFA’s head of media Delia Fischer told Press Association Sport: “The ban relates to all football-related activity. He cannot be in a football-related public event irrespective of the venue.
“He cannot even be involved in a football-related charity event.”
FIFA rejected Suarez’s attempt to appeal the ban, but he can still take his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as a last resort. Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu remains confident that Suarez’s ban, which also includes nine international matches, will be reduced.
The fact that Suarez can’t even take part in a football-related charity event shows just how comprehensive this ban is. Given that, he’s probably also prohibited from eating cakes shaped like a ball or collecting World Cup Panini stickers. And anyone who buys his new Barcelona shirt likely won’t be allowed to take it home until October.