Suarez banned nine games, out of World Cup

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez is out of the World Cup after being handed a nine-match ban by football's world governing body FIFA on Thursday.

A FIFA spokesman said Suarez is banned from any football-related activity or from entering any football stadium for four months.

FIFA had opened disciplinary proceedings against Suarez for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during their World Cup match.

"Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field," Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee, said in a statement.

"The Disciplinary Committee took into account all the factors of the case and the degree of Mr Suarez's guilt in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Code. The decision comes into force as soon it is communicated."

Suarez, who had already served two lengthy suspensions for biting opponents while playing at club level, will be allowed to appeal through the Uruguayan federation.

Suarez breached an article of the FIFA relating to unsporting behaviour towards another player, a FIFA statement said.

"The player Luis Suarez is to be suspended for nine official matches. The first match of this suspension is to be served in the upcoming FIFA World Cup fixture between Colombia and Uruguay on 28 June 2014," the statement said.

Suarez has also been fined 100,000 Swiss francs (112,000 dollars).

The Uruguay football association, headed by president Wilmar Valdez, had presented a defence of Suarez to FIFA on Wednesday. Suarez himself did not testify.

In the 79th-minute incident of Tuesday's Group D match, Suarez pushed his head towards Chiellini and appeared to bite the defender in the shoulder in the penalty area just before Diego Godin headed Uruguay's winner, sending the 2006 champions out of the tournament.

It is not the first time Suarez has engaged in such behaviour.

He was banned for 10 games for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match in April 2013, having previously been banned for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal on the shoulder while Ajax captain, in 2010.

In England, where he was last season's Premier League top scorer and voted player of the year, he also served an eight-game ban after being found guilty by the Football Association of racially abusing United's Patrice Evra in an incident in October 2011, a charge he always denied.