Suarez appears at CAS appeal, verdict ‘next week’

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Luis Suarez gave evidence at sport’s highest court Friday and was told to expect a verdict next week in his appeal against a FIFA ban for biting an opponent at the World Cup.

The Uruguay and Barcelona forward signed autographs for young fans waiting outside the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after a six-hour hearing Friday, then left in a car without speaking to reporters.

CAS said Suarez gave a statement in court. The player, who dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans for the case, is trying to persuade a three-man judging panel to reduce his ban of four months from all football activity, along with nine Uruguay matches in official competitions.

The panel “informed the parties that it will issue its decision as soon as possible, probably before the end of next week,” the court said in a statement.

Barcelona, which signed Suarez from Liverpool after the World Cup ended, begins the Spanish league season in two weeks.

FIFA’s sanction, which currently runs through October 25, bars Suarez from training with his new teammates.

Lawyers for football’s world governing body declined to comment on the case.

Daniel Cravo, a lawyer for the Uruguay federation, told reporters earlier that “we have to have a controlled optimism because we have to respect the panel”.

Suarez has admitted biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini’s shoulder during Uruguay’s 1-0 win in Natal, Brazil.

Because Suarez acknowledged the incident, his legal team was unlikely to challenge FIFA on the facts of the case.

“I deeply regret what occurred,” Suarez wrote on Twitter June 30, days after FIFA announced the sanctions. “[The] truth is that my colleague Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me.”

Instead, Suarez’s lawyers from the Uruguay football association and Barcelona were expected to focus on persuading the panel that the sanctions are too severe.

The international group of football player’s unions, FIFPro, has criticised the four-month ban as an infringement of Suarez’s right to work.

On Friday, FIFPro urged the court to ease the sanction by making parts of the bans conditional on future good behaviour and rehabilitation.

“The educative nature of the sanction mentioned by FIFA in the [disciplinary] ruling can be much better achieved by making it partially conditional, including the obligation for Luis Suarez to receive treatment,” the union said in a statement.

Suarez has trained alone with a private coach while he is barred by FIFA from Barcelona’s stadium and practice grounds.

FIFA did allow Suarez to take a medical to complete his reported $126 million transfer from Liverpool last month on a five-year contract.

Suarez’s ban of nine international matches is one more than FIFA imposed at the 1994 World Cup on Italy defender Mauro Tassotti for elbowing a Spanish opponent in a quarterfinal. That incident was also missed by match officials.