Suarez Gets Six-Match Ban after Leagues Cup Final Chaos
Last update: September 6, 2025
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Inter Miami striker hit with ban after spitting on Sounders staff in league cup final
Inter Miami striker Luis Suarez has been slapped with a six-match suspension following his unruly conduct in last weekend’s stormy Leagues Cup final against Seattle Sounders.
The 38-year-old former Liverpool and Barcelona star was punished for spitting at a Sounders official during a post-match melee after Miami’s 3-0 defeat in Seattle.
In a statement on Friday, the Leagues Cup Disciplinary Committee confirmed that Suarez’s ban will apply to next year’s edition of the tournament. Major League Soccer, however, “reserves the right” to impose additional punishment.
CBI News understands that Suarez’s teammates were not spared either. Veteran midfielder Sergio Busquets was handed a two-match ban, while defender Tomas Aviles received a three-game suspension. On the Seattle side, assistant coach Steven Lenhart will serve a five-match suspension.
Tensions boiled over immediately after the final whistle when Suarez stormed towards 20-year-old Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas, grabbing him in a headlock. The confrontation quickly spiralled into a brawl involving multiple players and staff from both sides.
Amid the commotion, cameras caught Suarez spitting at a Seattle staff member as he was being led away, an act that drew widespread condemnation and prompted the disciplinary committee’s decision.
The Uruguayan forward took to Instagram on Thursday to apologise for his actions.
“It was a moment of great tension and frustration, where right after the match things happened that shouldn’t have happened. But that doesn’t justify the reaction I had,” Suarez wrote.
“I was wrong and I sincerely regret it. I feel bad about what happened, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to acknowledge it and apologize to everyone who felt hurt by what I did.”
The latest episode adds to Suarez’s chequered disciplinary history. He was famously banned for four months during the 2014 World Cup after biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini. He had previously faced bans for biting opponents while at Ajax and Liverpool, and in 2011, was suspended for eight games in England for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
Suarez also courted infamy at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when his deliberate handball denied Ghana a dramatic late winner in the quarter-finals.
