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The club, who have until Friday at 12:00 BST to appeal, said they were "shocked and disappointed" at the length of the suspension.

Uruguay international Suarez had accepted the FA charge of violent conduct but claimed his ban should be three games, the standard punishment for violent conduct.

An FA statement read:  "A three-person independent regulatory commission today upheld the FA's claim that a suspension of three matches was clearly insufficient and the player will serve a further seven first-team matches in addition to the standard three. The suspension begins with immediate effect.

"The Liverpool forward had accepted a charge of violent conduct but had denied the FA's claim that the standard three-match sanction was insufficient for the offence.

"The incident was not seen by the match officials and has therefore been retrospectively reviewed.
"Suarez has until midday on Friday 26 April to appeal [against] the additional suspension, above the standard three matches."

The ban covers their final four games of this season, and the first six games of 2013-14.

Reds managing director Ian Ayre said: "Both the club and player are shocked and disappointed at the severity of today's independent regulatory commission decision.

"We await the written reasons tomorrow before making any further comment."

It is not the first time Suarez has been charged with such an offence. He was banned for seven games when he was at Ajax after biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal's shoulder during a match in November 2010.

During his time at Liverpool, he was also given an eight-match ban and £40,000 fine by the FA for racially abusing Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra in December 2011.

Suarez is on the six-man shortlist for the Professional Footballers' Association player of the year award and PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor earlier said: "It would be embarrassing if he is named player of the year but we have got to deal with it and make sure he is player of the year not just in a footballing sense but as a human being as well and we will be trying to do that."

Longest bans handed out by FA

• 9 months - Manchester United's Eric Cantona for 'kung-fu' kicking a supporter in 1995
• 9 months - Chelsea keeper Mark Bosnich who tested positive for cocaine in 2003
• 8 months - Rio Ferdinand of Manchester United for missing a drugs test in 2003
• 12 games - QPR's Joey Barton for two counts of violent conduct against Manchester City players in 2012
• 11 games - Sheffield Wednesday's Paolo Di Canio for pushing referee Paul Alcock in 1998
• 10 games - Southampton's David Prutton for shoving referee Alan Wiley in 2005
• 10 games - Luis Suarez for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in 2013
• 9 games - Paul Davis of Arsenal for punching Southampton's Glenn Cockerill in 1988 and breaking his jaw
• 8 games - Luis Suarez for racially abusing Patrice Evra in 2011
• 8 games - Man City's Ben Thatcher for elbowing Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes in 2006
• 5 weeks - Man Utd's Roy Keane for comments made in his autobiography in 2002