The former England coach thinks the Uruguay striker needs professional help after Fifa barred him from all football-related activity for four months for biting Giorgio Chiellini

Glenn Hoddle believes Luis Suarez should face a lifetime ban from football if he ever bites an opponent again, after the Uruguay forward received a four-month suspension for attacking Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

Suarez, 27, was given a nine-game international suspension and banned from all football-related activity for four months for his third biting offence in almost four years in the key World Cup group game.

The striker was not sent off as la Celeste beat the Azzurri 1-0 to progress to the knockout stages, but former England manager Hoddle believes this is Suarez’s final chance to save his career.

“Luis Suarez should be banned from football for life if he ever bites an opponent again,” Hoddle wrote for hill.com.

“He needs help and this Fifa ban is fine as far as it goes. But first he needs to know that he needs to get help – or if he repeats it he will never play football again.

“He needs to get help out of fear, if you like, because has done it three times now.”

Former Argentina star Diego Maradona and even Chiellini himself have questioned the severity of Suarez’s punishment, but Hoddle says that the forward must use the fear of losing his future to move beyond his past behaviour.

“The possibility of a lifetime ban will scare him more than anything else, more than any fine, more than even this ban from the World Cup,” he continued. “He needs to activate a process of getting help.

“To help himself, he needs to know his entire career is now on the line, that there’s nowhere in the world he can play if he ever repeats it.

“He’s done it before and he clearly needs help. My message to Suarez is ‘go and get help you need, because if you ever do this again, you must be banned – for life.'”

Glenn Hoddle is Hill.com’s official World Cup blogger in Rio de Janeiro.