In the first game of the 2026 World Cup, referee Wilton Pereira Sampaio needed just one red card to equal the entire number of expulsions from the previous World Cup.
In the match between Mexico and South Africa, the Brazilian referee sent off three players (two South Africans and one Mexican), almost reaching the 2022 World Cup mark. In Qatar, four red cards were shown in total, a number that was repeated in 2018 and 1938.
The record for expulsions is from the 2006 World Cup, with 28. Then, the edition with the most red cards was in 1998, with 22.
Wilton’s mark was also close to the record for expulsions in a World Cup match, recorded in 2006 between Portugal and the Netherlands, with four red cards.
This was still the opening game with the most red cards. The previous record was two expulsions in the match between Argentina and Cameroon in 1990.
South Africa also equaled in this game the total number of red cards they received in the other three World Cups they participated in (1998, 2002 and 2010).
In the history of the World Cups, Brazil is the country with the most expulsions, 11, followed by Argentina (10) and Uruguay (9).
