Suárez punishment to be reduced?

Luis Suarez's lawyers are increasingly confident that there will be a significant reduction to the punishment handed down by FIFA's disciplinary commission as a result of the approaching Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing regarding his appeal, which will take place on 8th August in Lausane.

The player's lawyers have not wanted to discuss the case publicly. They are carefully guarding their silence, but their impression is that the CAS will allow the player to continue his daily work in training from when a verdict is reached (middle of August), and that the ban itself will also be reduced.

The most optimistic view is that the ban will be halved, which would mean that he could finally make his Barça debut in early September.

MARCA has consulted lawyers specialising in sports, as well arbitrators of the CAS itself, and they all consider that the sanction dished out by the Disciplinary Committee was disproportionate, believing that the punishment should not have extended beyond the FIFA-organised competition where the event took place.

This will be one of the arguments used to defend Luis Suarez, who is considered to have been punished twice for the same crime, and the most draconian feature is that he's not even been able to train with the club that pays him, initially Liverpool, but following his transfer, Barcelona.