Suarez banned for NINE games over spitting incident

Inter Miami forward Luis Suarez has been given an additional three-game ban by the MLS after spitting at a Seattle Sounders staff member.

The former Liverpool and Barcelona striker had already been banned for six games in the Leagues Cup following the incident which occurred after Miami’s 3-0 final defeat to Seattle.

And now, the MLS have banned him for three league games too, meaning he will miss nine games in total across both competitions.

Suarez has since apologised, saying on social media: “It was a moment of much tension and frustration, where just after the game ended things happened that shouldn’t have happened but that doesn’t justify my reaction,” he wrote.

“I made a mistake and sincerely apologize. It’s not the image I want to give in front of my family, that suffers because of my mistakes, in front of my club, that also doesn’t deserve seeing themselves affected by something like this.”

Luis Suárez appeared to spit on a Seattle staff member after the final whistle in the Leagues Cup Final 👀

🎥: @MLS pic.twitter.com/gCMLdbwDlC

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 1, 2025

Suarez’s team-mate Sergio Busquets and Tomás Avilés were also given two-game and three-game Leagues Cup bans, respectively, for their actions after the final whistle.

But unlike Suarez, neither face further action from the MLS.

The Sounders have been fined an undisclosed amount for “misappropriation of credentials”, meanwhile, with staff member Steven Lenhart having his credential privileges revoked for the rest of the season meaning he will “only be permitted in public seating areas during Seattle Sounders FC home matches and cannot be on or near the field of play, nor in or around the locker rooms, or tunnel.”