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Luis Suarez may no longer be Liverpool's talented headache, but given the widespread belief amongst Liverpool fans that his £75M move to Barcelona would be followed by a shortening of his four-month blanket ban from all football-related activities, news of his now concluded appeal seems worth discussing. In short, that appeal failed.
Digging a little deeper, the Court of Arbitration for Sport didn't uphold the entire FIFA sanction, but they did uphold the headliner: Luis Suarez will not be able to play football until after October 25th. However, they did amend the original ruling such that Suarez will be allowed to train with his new teammates at Barcelona before then.
In the end, then, it's a lessening of his suspension—but not in a way that really matters. Certainly it isn't the blanket reduction many Liverpool fans assumed would take place once he had joined the Catalan club. Suarez' previous appeal, heard by FIFA, also failed to reduce the duration of his punishment.
Barcelona are currently scheduled to face Real Madrid on Saturday, October 25th, the final day of Suarez' ban, but if the Spanish Football Federation were to move the match to Sunday he would become eligible.
