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Suarez loses 888poker sponsorship deal after four-month ban
888poker says Friday it is terminating its contract with Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez after he was banned from all football-related activity until the end of October for biting an opponent in a World Cup match.
Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez leaves the team training center in Natal, Brazil, June 26, 2014. Suarez returned to Uruguay after world governing boby FIFA imposed a lengthy ban on the Liverpool striker for biting an opponent during a World Cup game. Photo by: EPA/NEY DOUGLAS
By dpa correspondents
888poker said Friday it had terminated its contract with Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez after he was banned from all football-related activity until the end of October for biting an opponent in a World Cup match.
The betting firm had signed a deal with Suarez only last month, after a season in which he scored 31 goals for English Premier League club Liverpool.
"888poker signed Luis Suarez following a fantastic season for which his achievements were widely recognized," said the company in a statement.
"Regrettably, following his actions during Uruguay's World Cup match against Italy on Tuesday, 888poker has decided to terminate its relationship with Luis Suarez with immediate effect."
Another major sponsor, German sports gear manufacturer Adidas, has also dropped Suarez from its World Cup advertising campaign and has said it will meet with him after the tournament has ended to discuss his future with the company.
FIFA handed Suarez a nine-match international suspension and a four-month ban from all football-related activities after he bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 win against Italy.
He arrived home in Uruguay on a private jet from Brazil on Friday. He landed at a military airport in Montevideo and went to see his mother in a spa resort near the capital, local media reported.
The president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, criticized FIFA's decision to ban Suarez over his third biting offence and accused the governing body of venting its anger on "a tiny nation."
In a phone interview with De Zurda, a Venezuelan television show co-hosted by former Argentina star Diego Maradona, Mujica said that it would "not cost FIFA much to be harsh with Uruguay as it is a tiny nation."
The punishment was an "act of aggression" against Uruguayan fans, he added.
At the time he was waiting at an air base in Montevideo as Suarez was expected to fly in from Natal. Mujica left after it was announced that the plane had been delayed.
Maradona described the sanction as "criminal," and said it was ironic that FIFA wanted to establish itself as a moral authority on such matters.
During the broadcast, Maradona was seen wearing a white T-shirt with the words "Luis, we are with you," written on it
