FIFA (International Football Federation) approved in a meeting held this Tuesday (28), in Vancouver, Canada, a change in the counting of yellow cards in the World Cup. It will be reset at two points during the competition.
In the 2026 edition, to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, this will occur at the end of the group stage and again after the quarterfinals. At the last World Cup, in Qatar, what FIFA calls “amnesty” only occurred at the end of the quarterfinals.
This does not mean that the athlete who has accumulated two yellow cards will be free from suspension in the first knockout game or in the semi-finals. In this case, the hook will be applied normally, and it will only be able to return in the next round. In other words, it is the players with a card who will have their count reset.
The change responds to a request made by some federations, which used the increase in the number of matches as an argument. In the first World Cup with 48 teams, after their three duels in the group stage, each team needs to win twice to reach the quarterfinals, not once more.
