Uruguay Football Association Wants Luis Suarez International Ban Reduced Before Copa America

The Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) is planning to talk with FIFA in order to have Luis Suarez’s international ban reduced. Although the Barcelona striker can now play for his club, Suarez still has eight matches remaining on his international ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

The president of Uruguay’s FA Wilmar Valdez concedes that it would take a “miracle” to see the 27-year-old striker’s sanction reduced before the Copa America but he has traveled to Zurich to speak with FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

“The Suarez issue is politically complicated,” Valdez told a Uruguayan radio station. “The idea is to speak with FIFA’s legal counsel to try and reverse the situation, although the reason we are here is to put four or five different points to President Blatter.”

“We are still negotiating this issue with FIFA, but we almost have ran out of options, and the truth is that it will be a miracle if Luis can play at the Copa America.”

“Obviously, Luis knows that he made some mistakes, but anyway we still feel that some FIFA decisions during the World Cup, weren’t right.”

The Copa America begins on June 11th in Santiago, Chile. The South American showpiece starts with twelve teams competing in a round-robin group phase, with the top two teams from each section qualifying for the quarter-finals along with the two best third-placed teams; at which point the tournament takes on a standard knockout format before the final on July 4th.

Uruguay have been drawn in Group C alongside Argentina, Paraguay and Jamaica.

The Copa America groups are as follows:

Group A : Chile (hosts), Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia

Group B : Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Jamaica

Group C : Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela