Soccer Yellow Card Rules

What offenses or misconducts will merit a yellow penalty card?

The yellow card serves as a caution given to the player who has committed a misconduct or a serious offense.

The referee shows the yellow penalty card to the offending player then records the player details in a small notebook - often referred to as 'booking'. The player who receives a yellow card may continue playing. Should he make another misconduct a second yellow card, he will be shown a red card and is ejected from the game.

There are seven offenses that can lead to the awarding of the yellow card:

1) Unsporting behavior. This refers to a foul or conduct that violates soccer's accepted rules of sportsmanship. Examples are actions that intend to deceive the referee or extravagant celebration like removing the jersey.

2) Dissent by word or action. To keep the authority of the referee, dissents (verbal or non-verbal) can be considered an offense. This includes mass confrontation around an official, any aggressive action towards the referee and excessively loud comments directed at an official.

3) Persistent infringement of the rules. Football fouls and infrigements are inevitable during a match. But if a player repeatedly commits the same foul or infringement, the referee will consider it a violation worthy of a penalty card.

4) Fails to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick or free kick. When a game is restarted with a corner or free kick, all defenders must stay, at least 10 yards (9.15 meters) away from the ball. Failure to do so after repeated warnings by the referee will merit a caution.

5) Delaying the restart of play, and deliberate time-wasting. Any acts with a sole purpose of wasting time are considered cautionable offense. Examples include taking a free kick from the wrong position to force the referee to order a retake and intentionally delaying the exit during substitution.

6) Entering & re-entering the field without the referee's permission and 7) Leaving the field without the referees permission. The field of play is considered sacred ground during the duration of the game. The soccer referee serves as the supervisor and only he can give permission to either leave, enter or re-enter it.

Each tournament has its own set of rules regarding the accumulation of yellow cards. Oftentimes, a player is disqualified for a certain number of matches if he receives more than a set number of cards over several matches.

The UEFA Champions League, for example, will suspend a player for one game if he accumulates two yellow cards during the tournament. After the suspension, his record will be reset. B.

Football yellow card history

The yellow card, along with the soccer red card, was developed by English referee Ken Aston following the 1966 World Cup. It was first tested during the 1968 Olympic games and the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

Finally, in 1982, the card system became compulsory in every football game.

Most controversial yellow card calls

Three yellow cards to the same player

The match between Australia and Croatia during the 2006 World Cup is a great example why booking is important during a match.

Referee Graham Poll tagged Josip Simunic with a yellow card but forgot to book him. On Simunic's second offense, Poll again gave Simunic a yellow card. At this point, the referee should have had shown a red card and eject the offending player. But Poll forgot and failed to do so. It was only on Simunic's third yellow card that the mistake became apparent. He was booted off the game.

Graham Poll never refereed the World Cup again.

Political pressure rescinds a yellow card

The 1986 African Cup of Nations, hosted by Egypt, shows how politics can help a nation win a championship title. Following a series of offense during the semi-finals match againts Morocco, Taher Abouzeid, one of Egypt's football superstars, accumulated yellow cards to merit suspension. This means that he will miss the finals against Cameroon.

With pressure from the highest levels of the Egyptian government, the yellow card was rescinded. Abouzeid played in the finals and Egypt won against Cameroon 4 – 3.