Luis Suarez banned for 4 months for biting opponent at World Cup

RIO DE JANEIRO -- FIFA banned Uruguay striker Luis Suarez from all football activities for four months on Thursday for biting an opponent at the World Cup, a punishment that rules him out of the rest of the tournament and the start of the upcoming Premier League season.

The ban also covers Uruguay's next nine international games, which goes beyond the next four months and rules him out of next year's Copa America. It will likely carry over to qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup.

FIFA also fined the Liverpool striker 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,000).

Uruguay's football federation said it plans an appeal to FIFA before the team's round-of-16 game against Colombia on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.

Suarez bit the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 win in the group stage on Tuesday, but escaped unpunished as the referee did not see the incident. A replay of the bite can be seen starting at about the 1:10 mark of the video below:

World Cup: Uruguay striker Luis Suarez banned for four months

(CNN) -- Luis Suarez will have plenty of time to ponder his tendency to bite opposition players after the Uruguayan striker was banned for nine international matches and suspended for four months from any football activity by FIFA.

The Liverpool striker, who has bitten players three times in his career - the latest incident coming in a key World Cup game -- is also set to miss a large chunk of the English Premier season as he is "banned from any football related activity" by football's world governing body.

The punishment is the most severe ever handed out at a World Cup for an offense committed on the field of play but the striker does have the right to appeal and is allowed to transfer clubs during the four month period.