Luis Suarez Issues Apology to Giorgio Chiellini and 'Entire Football Family' after World Cup Bite Controversy

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has issued an apology to Giorgio Chiellini and "the entire football family" following the bite that ended his World Cup campaign.

The Liverpool striker was handed a four month ban from all football and banned for nine international matches following his bite on the Italy defender in his country's 1-0 win over the Azzurri in their Group D decider.

The Uruguayan FA and Suarez had previously remained defiant in the face of fresh criticism facing their talismanic striker. However the disgraced striker has since issued an apology and vowed "there will never again be another incident like this."

"After several days of being home with my family I have had the opportunity to regain my calm and reflect about the reality of what occurred during the Italy-Uruguay match on 24 June 2014," Suarez wrote in an open letter issued through his Twitter account.

"Independent from the fallout and the contradicting declarations that have surfaced during these past days, all of which have been without the intention of interfering with the good performance of my national team, the truth is that my colleague Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me.

"For this I deeply regret what occurred. I apologise to Giorgio Chiellini and the entire football family. I vow to the public that there will never again be another incident like this."

Suarez had previously claimed he stumbled into Chiellini and accidentally "hit his face" on the Italian's shoulder when he put forward his defence to Fifa's disciplinary committee.

World football's governing body yesterday released the full details of the hearing, detailing Suarez's account of the events which said: "After the impact I lost my balance, that destabilised me and I fell on top of my opponent. At this moment I hit my face against the player leaving a small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth and that's why the referee stopped the match. That is what happened and in no way was there any case of biting or intending to bite."