Luis Suarez, superstar striker for Uruguay and Liverpool FC, is one of the finest footballers on the face of the planet. He is also, as the world discovered Tuesday, a serial biter.

During the 79th minute of the crucial game between Uruguay and Italy to decide which team would advance to the next stage of the World Cup, Suarez was jostling for position with Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. Suddenly, without warning, Suarez bit Chiellini on the shoulder.

Suarez immediately put his hands to his face and fell to the ground. The referee did not notice the incident, and did not book Suarez. Chiellini protested vocally, and showed the bite mark on his shoulder. Other Uruguayan players rushed to get him to cover it up.

Image: Hassan Ammar/Associated Press

Shortly after the incident, Uruguay's Diego Godin scored the only goal of the game, and went through in second place in its group. The team will likely face Colombia in the next round.

"It was absolutely clear. There's even a mark," Chiellini told Italian station Rai TV after the match. "He knew very well that he did something that he shouldn't have done."

Meanwhile, Uruguay's manager Oscar Tabarez defended his striker by suggesting the press was making a meal of the incident: "Suarez, besides the mistakes he might have made, is the preferred target of certain media," he said.

Casual soccer fans were especially shocked to discover Suarez has bitten before — not once, but twice, and earned multiple match bans for doing so. Here he is biting Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea last year, which earned him a 10-game ban in England's Premiere league:

Suarez also chomped on an opponent in 2010 in the Netherlands, which earned him a seven-match ban. Then playing for Ajax, he bit PSV Eindhoven player Otman Bakkal.

So what will FIFA do? The governing body is said to be preparing a statement, pending a report from match referee Marco Rodriguez of Mexico.

The organization has the power to issue anything from a fine to a one-match suspension to an indefinite or decades-long suspension of any player from professional football. This last sanction was most recently issued against players in the English and Slovakian leagues for alleged match fixing.

Sadly, FIFA has a history of issuing relatively mild sanctions in situations involving major players — even when the entire world is watching, and the game is being brought into disrepute.

In the 2006 World Cup final, French star Zinedine Zidane infamously headbutted Italian midfielder Marco Materazzi. FIFA's sanction? Zidane was fined $6,000, and agreed to do community work with children in lieu of a three-match ban. (Materazzi, meanwhile, was fined $4,000 and banned for two matches for provoking Zidane.)

We'll update this story as more news comes in and we have comment from FIFA, but one thing's for sure: Twitter, and the world, will not soon forget this incident. The hashtag #BanSuarez was trending Tuesday, even in the U.S. — and brands rushed to capitalize on the notorious incident.

Suarez's odd tendency has been outed on a global stage, and we'll all be watching him more carefully now.