RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Luis Suarez told FIFA’s disciplinary panel that he did not deliberately bite Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
The Uruguay striker’s defense that he lost balance and fell on his opponent will now be presented to FIFA’s appeal panel, after his national federation notified FIFA late Friday it would challenge the nine-match, four-month ban.
“In no way it happened how you have described, as a bite or intent to bite,” Suarez wrote in Spanish in a letter dated June 25.
The player’s defense is in paragraph 6 of FIFA’s disciplinary committee ruling, which has been seen by The Associated Press.
“After the impact … I lost my balance, making my body unstable and falling on top of my opponent,” Suarez wrote in his submission to the panel which met Wednesday, one day after Uruguay beat Italy 1-0 in a decisive group-stage match.