The CAS maintain Luis Suárez's ban

Via an official statement, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have announced that they have upheld the decision to ban Barcelona forward Luis Suárez from playing for four months after his biting of Giorgio Chiellini at the recent World Cup.

The sentence says that the Catalan side’s striker cannot play in official matches, but can train with the side and play in friendlies. The CAS statement reads:

"The Court of Arbitration for Sport has released its decision in the appeal of Luis Suarez, FC Barcelona and the Uruguayan FA against FIFA. The CAS Panel has partially upheld the appeal. The sanctions imposed on the player by FIFA have been generally confirmed. However, the 4-month suspension will apply to official matches only and no longer to other football-related activities (such as training, promotional activities and administrative matters).

On 24 July 2014, Luis Suarez, FC Barcelona and the Uruguayan FA filed an appeal against the decision of the Appeals Committee of FIFA. The Appellants requested that the sanctions be reduced and more particularly that the 4-month suspension be lifted. The case was conducted on an expedited basis and the hearing took place at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on 8 August 2014. The player was present and gave a statement to the Panel of CAS arbitrators: Mr Bernhard Welten, Switzerland (President), Professor Luigi Fumagalli, Italy, and Dr Marco Balmelli, Switzerland.

The CAS Panel found that the sanctions imposed on the player were generally proportionate to the offence committed. It has however considered that the stadium ban and the ban from "any football-related activity" were excessive given that such measures are not appropriate to sanction the offence committed by the player and would still have an impact on his activity after the end of the suspension".

Therefore Suárez could play in the Torneo Joan Gamper, which will be held on Monday 18 August at the Campo Nou, where the player could be presented to his fans.