Adidas to halt Suarez adverts in World Cup

Sportswear giant Adidas said Thursday it would stop using Luis Suarez, one of its key promotional stars, for World Cup adverts after his four-month ban from football activities for biting Italian Giorgio Chiellini.

"Adidas fully backs FIFA's decision," a spokeswoman told AFP. "We do not accept the recent behaviour of Luis Suarez and shall remind him of the high standards we expect of our players.

"We have no plan to use Suarez for any other marketing activities during the 2014 FIFA World Cup."

FIFA banned Suarez for nine internationals and from football for four months and also fined him 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,000).

As well as being a major FIFA sponsor for almost four decades, the German company is a personal sponsor of Suarez, now set to serve the third suspension of his career for biting.

Mariana Ramos, Adidas spokeswoman in Sao Paulo, told AFP Suarez was to have featured in the firm's World Cup-related promotional activities across the event but would no longer do so.

"Future plans for after the World Cup will be revised once the tournament is over," she explained.

Uruguay are still in the tournament and face Colombia in Rio on Saturday in the second phase having knocked out fellow former champions England and Italy in the group stage.

Suarez bit Chiellini on the shoulder in the closing stages of his side's win over Italy in Natal on Tuesday.

Television replays showed him approaching Chielling from behind and appearing to lean into the Italian.

Chiellini pulled down his shirt to show what appeared to be bite marks on his shoulder following an incident which went unseen by the referee.

Suarez served bans of seven and ten matches for biting after an incident while playing for Ajax in 2010 and current side Liverpool last year.

Skipper Diego Lugano said in a statement the squad felt "powerless" to act in the face of the punishment, as "those who are in charge are in charge" while offering "a hug to Luis."

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-06-27

They're testing a new marketing strategy better suited to his talents. If it gains an advertising foothold, he may be back.

Sky are just reporting that the betting company that sponsors Suarez have terminated the arrangement.

Will be interesting to see what the Liverpool corporate sponsors decide to do. Standard Chartered Bank have already made noises, as well as Warrior, their kit sponsor.

This could be a real financial hit for Liverpool on top of the likely reduction in his transfer value.

For sure he will do it again. It's just something that he can't control. Opponents will push him hoping for a similar reaction. Liverpool must have employed the best psychologists in an attempt to prevent this very situation, and with what result? Absolutely no change.

So, what will Fenway do?

Can only see them making noises about supporting him etc. etc., but in reality doing their utmost to get top dollar (less than if they had done the deal before the WC).

If he stays at Liverpool Fenway know that it will just be a matter of time before it happens again. The previous occurrences took place away from the glare of US media, but not this time. The focus on them will be intense. They employ him and reactions will be requested from them. That will not go down well with these guys.

Who will buy him? Will RM and Barca continue their apparent interest? Maybe PSG or Monaco. But would they see this as too much of a gamble? Another similar incident and the punishment could be years, not months. Time will tell.