YELLOW CARD

There is usually a minimum of three or more yellow cards issued to players between matches especially if rival teams face each other. Football players shown yellow cards serves as a warning but continue with the rest of the game cautiously to avoid another yellow which will result in a red card and are not able to continue with the game, leaving the pitch and going straight to the dressing room to follow the rest of the match from there.

Yellow cards are issued by the on-field referees for:

• cynical tackles
• time-wasting
• deliberate handballs
• fouls
• improper celebrations like removing the jerseys and
• dissent by players

The on-field referees can not only issue yellow cards to the 22 players on the field but also to substitutes on the bench or the team officials if they are dissenting and found guilty of committing a foul. The referees normally note down the players who have received the yellow cards, the time and the nature of the foul committed in their notebooks called a booking.

Players and team officials can also be shown a yellow card for entering the referee review area during a VAR review by the referees.

Yellow cards do not carry over in tournaments such as the UEFA Champions League and World Cup meaning that a player’s yellow card during group stages would not count during the knockout stages if they qualify. Still, yellow cards from one game to another in the same competition or League are carried over to the next game. Receiving two yellow cards in the same game will result in a one-game suspension but other offences may result in suspension of multiple games

History of Cards

FIFA adopted the colour-coded yellow and red system during the 1970 World Cup with the help of a British referee Ken Aston idea of using the colors. In 19^th-century football, there was a language barrier on the pitch communication between referees, players and officials and one day an idea came to Ken Aston while he was stuck in traffic and realized that red could communicate to be sendoff/stop and yellow could act as a caution as known in the traffic lights. Aston later approached FIFA with his idea and FIFA decided to try the yellow/red cards idea at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, since then FIFA adapted using the colour-coded cards because it was a success and was gradually implemented worldwide.

Gerardo Torrado (228) and Sergio Ramos (259)  are among the football players who have received the most yellow cards in their careers. Germany has the most yellow cards in the World Cup (122) followed by Argentina who have 112 yellow cards.

RED CARD

Red cards are the most feared cards during a match where players try to avoid getting them, when a player receives a red card, it means that the individual is supposed to walk out from the field of play and the rest of the game will continue without one player therefore an advantage to the opponent who will be playing with an extra player. The good news is that it is quite rare for a player to receive a red card and a match can end without a red card being issued by the referee, when a player receives a red card the manager cannot substitute.

The length of the player’s suspension due to the red card depends on the nature of the foul committed/the offence, for a professional foul a player will receive a one-match ban, for dissent it is normally a two-match ban and for a straight red card the punishment is normally a three-match ban. Other red card punishments are usually accompanied by fines to be paid by the penalized players. Denying the opponents a clear goal-scoring opportunity by committing a foul or a deliberate handball, spitting or kicking the opponents, use of offensive or abusive language can warrant a red card. It is tough when a goalkeeper receives a red card, the manager then has to decide to substitute one of the outfield players for the reserve goalkeeper on the bench but when the team is out of substitutes one of the outfield players has to take one for the team and be in the goal post to be goalkeeper for the rest of the match.

A red card can be shown to different numbers of players on a pitch, as long as a team has seven players still playing on the pitch the match can still carry on but if a sixth player is sent off the match will be forfeited by the offending team and the offending team will be punished with a 3-0 loss that favours the non-offending team. In the 2006 World Cup clash between Portugal and Netherlands, four red cards were issued and both teams finished the match with nine men. Team officials like team Managers can also be given red cards and they can no longer be in the touch lines for a certain number of matches who then leave the field and leave the team under the assistant coaches.

Not only Sergio Ramos has received more yellow cards, but he is also the second most player to receive red cards (29) in football history. This time the top player with most red cards is Gerardo Torrado, with an astonishing 46 red cards in his career. Surprise surprise!!!