Barcelona will be prevented from unveiling Luis Suarez publicly as that would contravene the terms of the ban he is serving for biting.
The striker is expected to complete a £75m move from Liverpool this week but FIFA have confirmed that he will not be allowed the usual ceremony with which Barcelona prefer to introduce their biggest signings to their supporters.
Such players as Cesc Fabregas and Neymar have been paraded in front of packed stadiums after agreeing contracts at Camp Nou, but Suarez is serving a four-month suspension from all football-related activity and that precludes him from entering the stadium. It was thought Barcelona may conduct the ceremony at a non-football venue but the club was informed by FIFA last night that this would not be accepted.
Suarez was given his ban by world football's governing body after biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup group stage. The Uruguayan had an appeal against the punishment - which also includes a nine-match international ban and £66,000 fine - dismissed by FIFA last week and is expected to take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a final bid to have the sanctions reduced.
On the prospect of Suarez being paraded by Barcelona, a statement from FIFA read: "The ban relates to all football-related activity. He cannot be in a football-related public event irrespective of the venue. He cannot even be involved in a football-related charity event."
His suspension currently keeps the striker away from football until October, although CAS can also be asked to put the ban on hold until the outcome of an appeal. However, he would then be made to serve the rest of any ban later in the campaign rather than having it run during the close season and not impinge completely on the season.
Chiellini has since intimated that he believes the ban to be too severe, while Suarez has also apologised and has expressed remorse for his actions. That sentiment has not corresponded with the public comments of his lawyer, Alejandro Balbi, however.
"The right of a footballer to work is being violated and football should be worried about that," he said. "The nine [international] games may seem excessive but the fact that he can't watch a game of football, or train, we are talking about unpleasant things."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article