Key takeaways
- Sort any card decision into one of three questions: was it a caution offence, a sending-off offence, or a denial of a goal-scoring chance with its own rules?
- Treat a foul in your own penalty area that was a genuine attempt to play the ball differently from holding or pushing: the first is usually a caution, the second a red card.
- Remember that a second caution in the same match is a sending-off, and a player sent off after kick-off cannot be replaced.
- Check your competition's regulations for suspensions and for the two optional red cards introduced for 2026/27, because the Laws leave both to competitions.
- Plan squad cover for suspensions the same way you plan for injuries — by position, not by rating.
A yellow card in soccer (association football) is a caution; a red card is a sending-off, and a player sent off once the match has started must leave and cannot be replaced. Under Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game, a player is cautioned for a short list of offences — delaying the restart, dissent, entering or leaving the field without permission, not respecting the distance at a restart, persistent offences, unsporting behaviour, and two newer ones about the video review area and signal. A player is sent off for serious foul play, violent conduct, biting or spitting, offensive language or gestures, denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity in most circumstances, or a second caution in the same match.
The rules below are those of the 2026/27 Laws of the Game, which took effect on 1 July 2026 and changed several details: one caution disappeared when advantage leads to a goal, the cautions for time-wasting were rewritten, and competitions gained two optional red cards. The text quoted below is Law 12 as it now stands.
The cautionable offences, as Law 12 lists them
A player is cautioned for:
- delaying the restart of play;
- dissent by word or action;
- entering, re-entering or deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission;
- failing to respect the required distance at a dropped ball, corner kick, free kick or throw-in;
- persistent offences — the Law says no specific number or pattern makes an offence "persistent";
- unsporting behaviour;
- entering the referee review area;
- excessively using the "review" (TV screen) signal.
Substitutes and substituted players can be cautioned for most of the same things. Two separate cautionable offences, even close together, should produce two cautions — which means a sending-off.
What "unsporting behaviour" covers
Most yellow cards fall under this heading. The Law's list includes simulation (feigning injury or pretending to be fouled), committing a direct free kick offence recklessly, stopping a promising attack with a foul or a handball, handling the ball in an attempt to score, showing a lack of respect for the game, verbally distracting an opponent, and the deliberate trick of flicking the ball up to head, chest or knee it back to the goalkeeper. Goal celebrations have their own list: climbing a perimeter fence in a way that causes safety issues, provocative gestures, wearing a mask, or removing the shirt or pulling it over the head all bring a caution even if the goal is disallowed.
The 2026/27 rewrite on time-wasting
Three time-wasting items were deleted from the caution list for 2026/27, because delays at throw-ins and goal kicks are now punished by giving the restart to the opponents, and a slow substitution by keeping the substitute waiting. Referees must still caution players who excessively delay a restart, kick or carry the ball away, provoke a confrontation by touching the ball after a stoppage, or take a free kick from the wrong position to force a retake.
The sending-off offences
A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off for:
- denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO) by a deliberate handball, anywhere (except a goalkeeper in their own penalty area);
- DOGSO by a non-deliberate handball outside their own penalty area;
- DOGSO by an offence punishable by a free kick, against an opponent moving overall towards the offender's goal, except for the penalty-area case below;
- serious foul play — a tackle or challenge that endangers an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality;
- violent conduct — excessive force or brutality when not challenging for the ball, against anyone, whether or not contact is made;
- biting or spitting at someone;
- offensive, insulting or abusive language or action;
- a second caution in the same match;
- entering the video operation room;
- and, where a competition adopts them, the two optional offences approved on 28 April 2026, covered below.
DOGSO, the offence with its own decision tree
Referees deciding whether a chance was "obvious" must consider the distance to goal, the general direction of play, the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball, and — since 2026/27 — the location and number of attackers as well as defenders. Then the card depends on where the offence happened and what kind it was:
| What happened | Where | Card |
|---|---|---|
| A foul that was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for it, and a penalty kick is awarded | Offender's own penalty area | Yellow |
| Holding, pulling, pushing, or no possibility of playing the ball | Offender's own penalty area | Red |
| Any free-kick offence that denies the chance | Outside the offender's penalty area | Red |
| Deliberate handball | Anywhere (goalkeeper in own area excepted) | Red |
| Non-deliberate handball, penalty kick awarded | Offender's own penalty area | Yellow |
| Non-deliberate handball | Outside the offender's own penalty area | Red |
| Referee plays advantage and a goal is scored | Anywhere | None (2026/27) |
The effect of the penalty-area exception is that, inside the area, the penalty kick does most of the compensating, and the red card is kept for offences with no attempt to play the ball. That is why a clumsy, honest tackle and a deliberate shirt-pull in the same spot end very differently.
SPA: stopping a promising attack
One rung down is SPA — interfering with or stopping a promising attack. It is a caution, whether by a foul or a handball, except that a foul which was an attempt to play the ball, or a non-deliberate handball, that results in a penalty kick is not cautioned. If the referee plays advantage after an SPA offence, there is no caution at all.
Advantage and the card that follows
When a referee lets play continue after an offence that deserved a card, the card is shown when the ball next goes out of play. The 2026/27 Law adds a precise exception: if the offence denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the attacking team scores from the advantage, there is no sanction, because the offence did not in the end prevent a goal. If no goal comes, the DOGSO offender is cautioned rather than sent off. Advantage should not be played for serious foul play, violent conduct or a second caution unless there is a clear chance to score.
The two optional red cards for 2026/27
At a Special Meeting on 28 April 2026, the IFAB approved two amendments that each competition organiser may choose to apply:
- a red card for a player, substitute or substituted player who covers their mouth when communicating with an opponent "in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory manner or situation";
- a red card for leaving the field in protest at a referee's decision, or for instructing or encouraging others to do so — a team official can be sent off for that even if no player leaves.
A league that has not adopted them is not bound by them, so the competition's regulations decide whether they exist in a given match.
Coaches and substitutes get cards too
Cards can go to players, substitutes, substituted players and team officials — nobody else. For team officials, Law 12 sets out three tiers. A warning is the usual response to low-level disagreement or occasionally leaving the technical area. A caution follows offences such as persistently ignoring the technical area's confines, throwing a drinks bottle, sarcastic clapping or excessively gesturing for a card. A sending-off follows offences such as leaving the technical area to remonstrate with an official, entering the field to confront one, entering the video operation room, abusive language, violent conduct, or a second caution. If an offence comes from the technical area and the culprit cannot be identified, the senior coach present takes the sanction.
The referee's disciplinary power runs from entering the field for the pre-match inspection until leaving it after the match, penalties included.
What a red card changes on the pitch
The consequences come from Law 3:
- A player sent off after kick-off cannot be replaced, and must leave the vicinity of the field and the technical area.
- A player sent off after being named but before kick-off may be replaced by a named substitute, without reducing the team's substitutions.
- A match may not continue if a team has fewer than seven players; under the 2026/27 text, a team responsible for a match ending that way will, in principle, forfeit, subject to competition regulations.
- In a penalty shoot-out, a player sent off during the match cannot take part, but cautions are wiped: per Law 10, warnings and cautions are not carried forward.
Tactically, ten players means one fewer body across the same pitch, and something has to give. The decision is which line loses a player — a forward, so the defence and midfield stay intact, or a midfielder, so there is still an outlet. Neither is free; the guide to soccer formations explains why every square metre covered somewhere is uncovered somewhere else, which is the whole problem with ten.
Sin bins are a different thing
Temporary dismissals — "sin bins" — are available only in youth, veterans, disability and grassroots competitions, and only with approval from the national association, confederation or FIFA, under the IFAB's guidelines. Where used, the referee shows a yellow card and points to the temporary dismissal area, and the guidelines say the period should be 10–15% of total playing time.
Suspensions are competition business
The Laws stop at the final whistle. Whether a red card means a one-match ban, how many cautions add up to a suspension, and whether cards carry across competitions are matters for each competition's disciplinary regulations, which is why the same tackle can cost different numbers of matches in different leagues. Check the regulations rather than assuming.
Availability is a squad problem
For anyone building a team, a suspension behaves like a short injury: a known gap in a known position. The sensible response is the one depth charts explained describes for other sports — know who covers each role before you need them.
That is the angle that matters in Pro Football GM Club Soccer's club-management mode, where squad depth and fitness sit alongside formations, transfers and contracts; the game's drafts, too, fill the XI position by position rather than by rating alone. In Football Career Soccer XI Sim, the same pressure shows up from the player's side: a fictional career in which Coach Trust decides who starts, as coach trust and playing time explains, and injuries and comebacks shape the season, as in injuries in sports career games. Both games run on their own rules; neither predicts real matches or is affiliated with any league.
For the offence that most often produces free kicks without cards, how the offside rule works is the companion read. More rules explainers are collected on the soccer hub, and the games are listed under sports career and GM games.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
What gets a player a yellow card in soccer?
What happens after two yellow cards?
What does DOGSO mean?
Can a coach be shown a red card?
Do yellow cards carry over into a penalty shoot-out?
Sources
- Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct (Laws of the Game 2026/27) (opens in a new tab)The International Football Association Board (IFAB) — accessed
- Law 3 – The Players (opens in a new tab)The International Football Association Board (IFAB) — accessed
- Law 10 – Determining the Outcome of a Match (opens in a new tab)The International Football Association Board (IFAB) — accessed
- Law changes 2026/27 (opens in a new tab)The International Football Association Board (IFAB) — accessed
- The IFAB unanimously approves red card for players covering their mouths to conceal discriminatory behaviour (opens in a new tab)The International Football Association Board (IFAB) — accessed
- Guidelines for temporary dismissals (opens in a new tab)The International Football Association Board (IFAB) — accessed
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