Luis Suarez banned: Fifa statement in full

Fifa announced that Suarez will be banned from international football for nine games and all forms of football for four months

Suarez could face a two-year ban for the incident (PA)

Fifa confirmed on Thursday that Luis Suarez will serve a four-month ban from all forms of football, meaning he cannot play or train with Uruaguay or Liverpool until the end of October, as well as a nine-match international ban following his bite on Italy's Giorgio Chiellini.

Follow live reaction to Suarez's ban here

Below is the full statement that Fifa released to confirm the biggest disciplinary sanction in World Cup history.

The statement read:

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has reached a decision in the case related to Luis Suárez of Uruguay following an incident that occurred during the FIFA World Cup™ match between Italy and Uruguay played on 24 June 2014.

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided that:

The player Luis Suárez is regarded as having breached art. 48 par. 1 lit. d of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) (assault), and art. 57 of the FDC (an act of unsporting behaviour towards another player).

The player Luis Suárez is to be suspended for nine (9) 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 remaining match suspensions shall be served in Uruguay’s next FIFA World Cup match(es), as long as the team qualifies, and/or in the representative team’s subsequent official matches in accordance with art. 38 par. 2a) of the FDC.

The player Luis Suárez is banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) for a period of four (4) months in accordance with art. 22 of the FDC.

Suarez appeared to admit that he bit Chiellini by holding his teeth in pain (Getty)

A stadium ban is pronounced against the player Luis Suárez in accordance with art. 21 of the FDC as follows: the player Luis Suárez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium during the period of the ban (point 3). The player Luis Suárez is prohibited from entering the confines of any stadium in which the representative team of Uruguay is playing while he has to serve the nine-match suspension (point 2).

The player Luis Suárez is ordered to pay a fine in the amount of CHF 100,000.

The decision was notified to the player and the Uruguayan FA today.

'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. 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,' said Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.