Yellow cards — given to soccer players when they commit a foul or penalty that’s a little more egregious or aggressive — can affect the current game in which they’re handed out. After all, two yellows in a game means a player is sent off.
But in the World Cup, they’re also cumulative.
First: Two yellows in a match and an ejection means an automatic suspension for the next game.
Second, and just as noteworthy: Two yellow cards accumulated over the course of the opening rounds by one player will also lead to a suspension.
The good news? If you get one yellow card in the opening group rounds, it’s wiped off the board after the quarterfinals.
There’s one other thing to note: As part of the tiebreakers for the group stage, there’s a “Fair Play tiebreaker.” Our Andrew Joseph explains:
Though this is super rare, we’ve seen this tiebreaker come into play recently in two-way ties. Basically, if all the other tiebreakers are exhausted without a winner, the team with the better disciplinary record in the group stage moves on.
In 2018, Japan advanced to the Round of 16 — edging out Senegal — only because Senegal picked up two more yellow cards than Japan.
The Fair Play system also applies here if three teams make it through all the previous tiebreakers.
It’s really a terrible way to break a tie because it values subjective officiating decisions over actual on-field performance.
There you have it!
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