Luis Suarez pleads case to international panel in biting incident

The Uruguayan soccer star caught biting an opponent should get an answer before the end of next week in his appeal to have a lengthy penalty reduced.

Luis Suarez was banned from all soccer-related activity for four months after chomping on the shoulder of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup match in June. FIFA also suspended him for nine international matches.

On Friday, Suarez traveled to the Swiss headquarters of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and gave a statement to a panel of arbitrators.

The striker, his Barcelona professional club and Uruguayan officials are asking that he be allowed to return to practice by late August.

“It would be more logical to reduce the sanction by a few months than to reduce the ban concerning international games, because legally it’s easier to contend against the terms of the suspension that forbid him from training and from being at the club, because they violate fundamental rights,” Alejandro Balbi, a lawyer for Suarez, told El Observador newspaper.

CAS officials announced they will issue a decision “as soon as possible, probably before the end of next week.”