Luis Suarez has been suspended for six matches after spitting at a Seattle Sounders coach at the end of Inter Miami’s 3-0 defeat in Sunday’s Leagues Cup final.
Miami teammates Sergio Busquets and Tomas Aviles were also suspended for their part in the altercation, along with Steven Lenhart, a member of the Sounders coaching staff.
The ban only relates to Leagues Cup matches, although Major League Soccer (MLS) could impose further punishment.
A statement from the cup competition’s organising committee said Suarez had been reported by match officials for spitting.
He will be ineligible to play in next season’s tournament, which pits MLS teams against clubs from Mexico’s Liga MX, and, potentially, into the following season.
Your ultimate guide to the football season
Metro’s football newsletter: In The Mixer. Exclusive analysis, FPL tips and transfer talk sent straight to your inbox every Friday – sign up, it’s an open goal.
Busquets was banned for two matches, Aviles for three and Lenhart for five, all for violent conduct.
The statement said all four had also been fined.
On Thursday, former Liverpool striker Suarez said he ‘sincerely regrets’ his part in the melee when he also grabbed an opposition player by the neck.
Writing on Instagram in Spanish, Suarez said: ‘I want to apologise for my behaviour at the end of the match. It was a very tense and frustrating moment.
‘Things happened right after the match that shouldn’t have happened, but that doesn’t justify my reaction. I was wrong and I sincerely regret it.
Luis Suarez’s biggest controversies
November 2010: Banned for two matches and fined for biting Ottman Bakal
July 2010: Denies Ghana a place in the World Cup semi-finals with a deliberate hanball that prevented a winning goal
December 2011: The FA concluded a seven-day hearing by handing Suarez an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra
April 2013: Banned for 10 matches after he was caught biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic during a Premier League game
June 2014: Banned for four months after another biting offence during a World Cup group stage match against Italy
‘It’s not the image I want to portray, neither to my family, who are suffering because of my mistakes, nor to my club, which doesn’t deserve to be affected by something like this.
‘I feel bad about what happened and didn’t want to miss the opportunity to acknowledge it and apologise to everyone who felt bad about what I did.’
Inter Miami said in a club statement issued on Thursday it condemned the ‘altercations’.
‘These actions do not reflect the values of our sport, and we remain committed to upholding the highest standards of sportsmanship both on and off the pitch,’ the club said.