At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, we’ve already seen games majorly impacted by yellow cards and red cards – most notably the Wales group stage meeting with Iran where goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey came off the line and took out Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi. Hennessey was sent off with a red card and Wales, down to ten men, saw Iran score two stunning stoppage time goals for the unexpected win. It was the first red card of the tournament and one that unquestionably changed the course of the game.
RELATED: World Cup 2022 schedule – how to watch, groups, calendar, match schedule, brackets, dates
Less impactfully but still of note, four U.S. players received yellow cards in the Americans’ opening match against Wales – (Kellyn Acosta, Tim Ream, Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest). While yellow cards are a omnipresent part of soccer, players run the risk of acquiring two cautions and being unavailable when their team needs them most. Here’s the breakdown on how yellow cards turn into player suspensions and what happens to cards in between rounds of the tournament.
How many yellow cards equal a player suspension?
If players receive two yellow cards at the 2022 World Cup, it will result in a one-game suspension. If the player receives both cautions in the same game, they will be sent off and serve the suspension in the subsequent match. But players can also receive a suspension after accumulating two yellow cards across separate matches. So once a player has a yellow card to their name, they’ll likely be thinking carefully about how they approach situations to ensure they’re not out of commission at a key moment in the tournament.
RELATED: What are the group stage tiebreaker rules at the 2022 World Cup?
Do yellow cards carry over from the group stage?
At the 2022 World Cup, yellow cards do carry over from the group stage into the Round of 16. If a player receives one yellow card in the group stage and another in the Round of 16, they are ineligible for their team’s quarterfinal matchup. However, there is a “clean slate” from the quarterfinals into the semifinals where all previous cautions are wiped, so no players in the semifinals will be at risk of missing the final matches due to accumulated yellow cards from earlier in the tournament.
Per FIFA, if a suspension can’t be served during the World Cup, it will be carried over to the team’s next official national match.
RELATED: World Cup 2022 odds: Favorites, underdogs, group stage winners
What do yellow cards mean at the World Cup?
Yellow cards are essentially cautions (also called “bookings”) given to players by match officials for a variety of infractions – these can include poor sportsmanship, delay of game, intentional injury to another player, not maintaining mandated distance from the ball on penalty kicks, impermissible language or other situations as determined by the referee on the pitch and the Video Assistant Referee. If a player receives multiple yellow cards, either in the same game or across multiple games, they receive an “indirect red,” which results in a one-match suspension.
Yellow cards can be a big problem for a team when it comes to missing key players, but they can also impact a squad’s chance of making it through the tournament. The final tiebreaker to determine which teams advance out of the group stages is the team conduct score, or “fair play” tiebreaker based on the number of yellow and red cards a team has accumulated. In a situation where teams are equal on all other tiebreakers, the side with the higher team conduct score will advance to the round of 16.
RELATED: Ranking the 2022 World Cup kits
World Cup 2022 schedule, start time, dates, how to watch live
- When: November 20, 2022 to December 18, 2022
- Group stage game kick-off times: 5am, 8am, 10am, 11am, 2pm (all ET)
- Location: Qatar
- TV channels en Español: Telemundo, Universo, Peacock
- Streaming en Español: Peacock (all 64 matches)
Follow along with ProSoccerTalk for the latest news, scores, storylines, and updates surrounding the 2022 World Cup, and be sure to subscribe to NBC Sports on YouTube!
