Luis Alberto Suárez Diaz was born in the Uruguayan city of Salto in January 1987. His family moved to Montevideo when he was seven. After several years of graft he broke into the first team of local side Nacional, and then earned the right to take his chance in Dutch football - first with Groningen and then with giants Ajax, where he amassed a century of goals for the club and was named Footballer of the Year in 2010.

In January 2011, Liverpool paid £22.8m to take Suárez to Anfield, making him the club's most expensive signing at the time. Suárez scored on his debut in front of the Kop, and then proceeded to write himself into Merseyside folklore, scoring 82 goals in just 133 appearances. He finished the 2013-14 season with 31 League goals from 33 matches, in the process sharing Europe's Golden Shoe with Cristiano Ronaldo, and being named Footballer of the Year by the FWA and Players' Player of the Year by the PFA.

On 11 July 2014, Barcelona announced that they had signed Suárez. In his first season at the Nou Camp he helped Barca to La Liga and Copa del Rey titles, scoring 16 goals in 27 games.

At international level, he is Uruguay's all-time record goal-scorer, and in 2011 he fired his country to victory in the Copa America.

Suárez is married with two children.