In soccer (or football), the referee can caution a player or a team official if they break the rules, and if an individual is cautioned twice, they have to be sent off.
The caution is officially communicated to the player, coaches and spectators at the game through the use of a yellow card.
GOAL explains when and why a yellow card is flashed, and the repercussions of being shown one.
What is a yellow card in soccer?
In soccer, yellow cards are used to keep players and officials alike in line during the game.
A referee may use his own discretion to simply blow the whistle, offer a verbal warning, or write down the player's name in his book for an aggressive or even a non-intentional violent act.
Hence, getting a yellow card is frequently referred to as 'being booked' or 'entering the referee's book' by commentators.
How do players get yellow cards?
Getty ImagesA player will receive a yellow card if they:
- delay the restart of play.
- dissent by word or action.
- enter, re-enter or leave the field of play without the referee's permission.
- fail to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a dropped ball, corner kick, free kick or throw-in.
- commit persistent offences (no specific number or pattern of offences constitutes ‘persistent’).
- engage in unsporting behavior.
- take off their shirt in celebration.
- excessive goal celebration.
In matches using the VAR (video assistant referee) system, players can be booked for entering the referee review area or excessively demanding a ‘review’.
Can a coach get a yellow card?
Getty ImagesYes, coaches can also get yellow cards. Coaches or team officials can be booked for a number of reasons, such as persistently leaving the technical area, excessively demanding red or yellow cards, or showing dissent through words or actions.
While some actions may be let go off with a verbal warning, yellow cards may be meted on account of cursing at officials, throwing or kicking drinks bottles, and even "sarcastic clapping."
These offences may be committed by someone from the technical area, and if the offender cannot be identified as a substitute, substituted player, sent-off player or team official, the senior team coach present in the technical area could be liable to receive the sanction.
Can a player be sent off with a yellow card?
Two yellow cards in a single match will be followed by the referee pulling out the red card and eventually sending off the player for the remainder of the match. This sending off, as in any other general case, will also result in a one-game suspension.
How many yellow cards before suspension?
While two yellow cards in a single match will lead to a one-game suspension in the next match, the number of accumulated yellow cards before a suspension varies from league to league.
However, it should be noted that the cards that a player receives - regardless if the player takes a transfer to another team - will be limited to the same competition. So if a player received a red after two yellows in a Premier League match, and the next match is in the Champions League, the player will not be suspended for the European game but the next domestic fixture that will take place.
Talking of accumulated yellow cards, it would be a one-match suspension for any player with five bookings in the first 19 matches of the season, a two-match ban for 10 yellows by week 32, and a three-match ban for 15 yellows by week 38, according to Premier League rules.
In the Champions League, a player earns a one-game ban after three accumulated yellow cards in separate matches, and this continues for every subsequent odd-numbered total of yellow cards but the tally resets at the semi-final stage.
In the World Cup, a player receives a suspension after being shown two yellow cards in two different matches, and all yellow cards are reset upon completion of the quarter-finals.
When were yellow cards introduced?
The 1970 World Cup marked the introduction of the yellow and red cards, except that players were given warnings and even sent off before that - just that there was no visual communication of the decision.
In the benefit of spectators to better understand what was happening during the match, referee Ken Aston is believed to have invented the color-coded cards used in soccer ever since, after observing the pattern at traffic signals.
"As I drove down Kensington High Street, the traffic light turned red. I thought, 'Yellow, take it easy; red, stop, you're off'," Aston was quoted by Smithsonian Magazine.