FIFA Fair-Play: 2026 World Cup Yellow Card and Red Card Tracker
*Image generated by artificial intelligence
Football — also known as soccer — is called The beautiful game for good reason: it unites people and provides entertainment through high-pace dribbling, fancy footwork, impeccable athleticism and, at times, spectacular passes and goals. However, the game also includes an ugly side — from reckless or violent tackles, to tactical fouls that deny obvious goalscoring opportunities, to blatant unsportsmanlike conduct. Such conduct may include classless dissent or verbal abuse toward match officials, fights and, most unfortunately, discriminatory language.
Such incidents result in either a warning from match officials, a yellow card or — most severely — a red card. The latter may entail a video review by the main referee — courtesy of video assistant referee — prior to the fateful decision. For newcomers to the game, a yellow card serves as a warning and a red card is an immediate expulsion from the match, resulting in a one-match suspension at the very least; the length of these suspensions vary based on the severity of the incident that led to the red card. A player who accumulates two yellow cards in a single match is also expelled and generally serves a one-match suspension. In such cases, the suspension is usually limited to one match because the second yellow is typically the result of a less severe offence than a one stemming from a direct red card.
Players receive direct red cards for violent tackles — including those involving studs above the ankle level or two feet while lunging into the player, and deliberate elbow swings or head-butts to any part of the body. Other offences worthy of a red card include verbal abuse to match officials, discriminatory language toward any individual or denying an opponent an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Although yellow cards and red cards occur sporadically, they accumulate rather quickly (more often than anyone would like). Moreover, the accumulation of both cards affects a nation’s fair-play score, which in turn influences its group-stage ranking, its reputation and its chances of earning fair-play awards, both on an individual level for players and on a collective level for the nation.
New World Cup Rules
Fair-play — which accounts for the total of yellow and red cards a team accumulates — becomes a tie-breaker in the final group-stage ranking when two nations finish with the same number of points, an identical head-to-head record (i.e., both nations drawing against each other), the same goal differential and the same number of goals scored.
Due to the 2026 World Cup’s expansion of participating nations (48) and the introduction of the round of 32, the yellow-card tally will reset twice: the first after the group stage and the second after the quarterfinals. Previous editions only had the quarterfinal reset.
Yellow Cards and Red Cards
As of June 22, Paraguay have recorded the highest number of combined yellow cards and red cards, with seven (see Figure 1). Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa have six bookings apiece, while Curaçao and Qatar have each accumulated five.
Note: This figure was last updated on June 21, 2026.
Source: FIFA
Red Cards: Direct and Indirect
As of June 22, seven red cards have been issued in the tournament, all of which were direct red cards (see Figure 2). Four of these were evenly split between Qatar and South Africa. South Africa received both of its red cards in its first match against Mexico (a 2-0 loss), while Qatar received both in its second match against Canada (a 6-0 loss).
Note: This figure was last updated on June 21, 2026.
Source: FIFA
