Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has been unfairly victimized in his "barbarous" expulsion from the World Cup for biting, his disconsolate grandmother said on Thursday.

"Everyone knows what they've done to Luis. They wanted him out of the World Cup. Perfect, they did it. They chucked him out of there like a dog," a sobbing Lila Piriz Da Rosa told Reuters from Suarez's birthtown Salto in northwest Uruguay.

Piriz, who has 22 grandchildren, said soccer authorities had been watching Suarez from the outset.

"This was on purpose," she said of the brilliant but volatile Suarez, who has been punished three times now for biting and once for racism.

Earlier on Thursday, world soccer's governing body FIFA suspended him from all soccer-related activity for four months and banned him from playing in Uruguay's next nine competitive games for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini

An appeal is expected to be lodged, but Suarez has received global condemnation for biting Chiellini's shoulder during Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy on Tuesday.

It was the third time Suarez had bitten an opponent during a match after a previous case while at Ajax in 2010 and last year playing for Liverpool against Chelsea.

"They had their eyes on him to see what he does. It's barbarous what they've done to him," Piriz said.

Suarez, who had a tough and humble infancy in Salto some 500 km from the capital Montevideo, wears his family affections on his sleeve and flew home on Thursday.

He moved to Montevideo when he was six.

"I'm his granny and I love my boy loads!" Piriz said. "Please don't ask me any more."

Meanwhile, former German captain Oliver Kahn, who once tried to bite an opponent, on Thursday backed Suarez's nine-match ban.

"This is an absolutely understandable decision," the former Bayern Munich captain told German broadcaster ZDF.

"His actions didn't happen by chance, it was the third time - and this time the whole world was watching."

Kahn - who was a member of the German side that lost to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup final - was fortunate to not be banned in 1999 after attempting to bite Borussia Dortmund striker Heiko Herrlich during a Bundesliga match.

He also launched a kung fu-style kick at an opponent in the same game and is remembered in Germany as much for his hot-headed moments as his 86 appearances for his country.

Kahn said he felt Suarez's biting of Chiellini was born of deep-rooted tension.

"This is behavior that we normally only see from animals," said the 45-year-old.

"For me, this is the incorrect channelling of inner emotions. You saw in his previous game that he almost cried.

"Maybe this behavior is his last resort when it comes to relieving tremendous pressure and freeing himself from his tensions.

"That's the only explanation I have for it."