Laws of the Game guide
How Yellow and Red Cards Work.
Cards communicate disciplinary action, but the reason for a card depends on the offence, its severity and the effect on play.
What the two cards communicate
A yellow card is a caution. The player may continue, but the caution becomes part of the referee’s disciplinary record for that match. A red card is a sending-off: the player must leave the field and its immediate surroundings, and the team continues with one fewer player.
Cards do not replace the restart. The referee separately decides whether play restarts with a free kick, penalty, dropped ball or another method required by the Laws.
Common reasons for a yellow card
Law 12 includes several cautionable offences. Unsporting behaviour covers a broad range, including reckless challenges, attempts to deceive the referee and some fouls that stop a promising attack. Dissent, repeated offences, delaying a restart, failing to respect the required distance and entering or leaving without permission can also lead to a caution.
The player acts with disregard for an opponent’s danger or consequences.
A tactical offence prevents an attack from developing, subject to the Law’s exceptions.
Clear protest against an official’s decision by word or action.
Conduct intended to prevent play restarting promptly.
Repeated infringements; there is no fixed universal foul count.
Failing to retreat at a free kick, corner or throw-in when the Law requires it.
When a direct red card is shown
Sending-off offences include serious foul play, violent conduct, biting or spitting, certain offensive or abusive actions, and denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity in circumstances covered by Law 12. The referee evaluates what happened, not simply how dramatic the collision looked.
Serious foul play concerns a challenge for the ball that endangers an opponent’s safety or uses excessive force. Violent conduct can occur when there is no genuine challenge for the ball. That distinction affects how the incident is classified, even though both can result in dismissal.
Two yellows become a sending-off
If a player commits two separate cautionable offences in the same match, the referee shows the second yellow and then the red. The player is sent off, but the match record distinguishes this from a direct red card.
One incident can contain two cautions
A player who commits a cautionable offence and then immediately commits a different cautionable offence before play restarts can receive two cautions and be sent off.
Why the referee may wait before showing a card
The referee can apply advantage when stopping play would harm the team that was fouled. The card is then shown at the next stoppage. This delay does not mean the offence was forgotten. For some sending-off situations, advantage is used only when there is a clear immediate opportunity to score.
Match cards and later suspensions are different decisions
The referee applies the Laws during the match. The competition organiser applies its disciplinary regulations afterward. Suspension length, accumulated-yellow thresholds, appeals and whether cautions carry into another round depend on the relevant competition rules.
A card shown on screen therefore tells you the match decision. It does not, by itself, confirm the exact number of future matches a player will miss.
Read the incident in this order
- What offence did the referee identify?
- Was the action careless, reckless or committed with excessive force?
- Did it stop a promising attack or deny an obvious scoring opportunity?
- Was the card direct, or was it a second caution?
- What restart follows under the Laws?
Sources and further reading
This guide follows IFAB Law 12. Competition disciplinary rules determine later suspensions and accumulation thresholds.
IFAB Law 12: Fouls and MisconductRelated: How VAR decisions work