Suarez to find out length of biting ban today

24 April 2013 08:50

Luis Suarez will learn the length of his ban on Wednesday after accepting a charge of violent conduct for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.

The Liverpool striker pleaded guilty to the charge and an independent regulatory commission will meet via video conference to decide on his punishment.

Suarez can expect a lengthy ban but has denied a claim from the FA that a standard three-match suspension is "clearly insufficient".

A statement from the FA read: "Luis Suarez has today accepted a charge of violent conduct, following an incident with Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in Sunday's fixture at Anfield.

"However, Suarez has denied the FA's claim that the standard punishment of three matches is clearly insufficient for this offence. The incident was not seen by the match officials and has therefore been retrospectively reviewed."

Suarez is likely to face a ban of at least six matches or even as many as 10 but the player will have the right to appeal if he feels it is too severe. The three-person regulatory commission will include a former player and will deal with the case under the FA's fast-track system.

The outcome of the hearing may depend on whether Suarez's past counts against him in any significant way. The 26-year-old was banned for seven matches in Holland in 2010 when he sank his teeth into Otman Bakkal, and although that incident will not form any part of the FA's case as it was in a different country, the commission will have the discretion to take his personal disciplinary history into consideration.

The same approach will also be used when the commission decide whether his eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra should have any impact on the sanction for this case.

There is no standard minimum or maximum punishment for biting in football's disciplinary code, unlike rugby union which has a 12-week recommended suspension for first offences up to a four-year ban for the most serious biting offences.

There have been suggestions that the fact Jermain Defoe escaped with a yellow card for biting Javier Mascherano in 2006 could influence the outcome of the Suarez hearing, but FA insiders say that will not be the case. The FA's rules have changed significantly since 2006, and had Defoe committed the same offence today he would undoubtedly have faced an FA charge under the umbrella of 'exceptional circumstances'.

Source: PA