Leagues Cup Hand Luis Suarez Lengthy Ban, Sergio Busquets Also Punished

The Leagues Cup Organizing Committee brought down punishments on Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders FC on Friday, addressing the scuffle that broke out following the latter’s 3–0 win in the 2025 Leagues Cup Final.

While the melee overshadowed Seattle’s initial celebrations, it saw several players and staff members appear to throw punches, and Luis Suárez was seen spitting on a Sounders staff member amid the chaos.

The organizing committee, which only has ruling over the 2026 Leagues Cup and beyond in the competition, outlined its suspensions and fines for some of those involved.

The suspensions include a six-match ban for Suárez, a three-game ban for his Miami teammate, Tomas Aviles, who was photographed throwing punches, and a two-game ban for midfielder Sergio Busquets, who is out of contract after the 2025 season.

Meanwhile, Sounders assistant coach Steven Lenhart has also been suspended for five games, but no Seattle players were given suspensions.

All offenders have also been fined.

The announced suspensions and additional fines come from the tournament’s organizing committee and do not impact the 2025 MLS regular season or MLS Cup Playoffs. However, MLS could sanction additional punishments which could impact the remainder of the 2025 season.

There is precedent to MLS doing as such. In 2024, Real Salt Lake’s Cristian Arango was suspended for violating MLS’ anti-harassment policy and missed league games and in 2019, RSL head coach Mike Petke was given a three-game Leagues Cup ban after berating officials. MLS added an additional three-match suspension and fine.

The decisions from the Leagues Cup Organizing Committee also came down less than 24 hours after both Suárez and Inter Miami issued statements apologizing for the behaviour following the final whistle.

Miami have nine regular-season matches remaining in 2025, including a clash against Seattle on Sept. 16 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which will likely come with some added tension following the outbursts at Leagues Cup.