With the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar well under way, check out the various yellow card rules in use including number of matches before suspension, list of suspended players, full list of players with yellow cards
Yellow cards may not be as harsh as red cards, but they become a problem when players start accumulating them.
FIFA World Cup 2022 Yellow Card Rules And When Does The Suspension Period End
Vincent Aboubakar is the first player to score against Brazil at the 2022 World Cup.
And he got second yellow card for taking his shirt off. 🙃#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/2EJXv1e2LT
— Squawka (@Squawka) December 2, 2022
🏴England are the only team to play at Qatar World Cup to yet receive a yellow card. 🟨
Thats discipline to the highest level ✊ pic.twitter.com/OFWGPYcmxt
— Antonio Mango (@AntonioMango4) December 5, 2022
'How on earth did Lionel Messi avoid a yellow card for this blatant hand ball??' is a question a lot of #WorldCup fans are asking https://t.co/YoBrFmDQ0o pic.twitter.com/84vFcOcpgC
— BroBible (@BroBible) December 9, 2022
With the tournament now reaching its final stages, every team will be looking to field its best set of players.
Players will have to avoid picking up too many yellow cards, which could possibly lead them to getting sent off in a match, or cause suspensions form card accumulation.
Number Of Cautions Before Suspension
As per the rules given by FIFA, players who have received two yellow cards at the World Cup will face an automatic one-match suspension.
The offence will continue on for every subsequent two yellow cards irrespective of the reason behind the card.
Players can get yellow cards for a foul, dissent, unsporting conduct, a handball, time wasting, etc.
List Of Players Suspended For Yellow Card Accumulation
Currently, there are altogether nine players at the tournament facing a yellow card suspension.
| Nation | Player suspended | Match suspended |
| Argentina | Marcos Acuna | Semifinal vs. CRO (Tues, Dec. 13) |
| Argentina | Gonzalo Montiel | Semifinal vs. CRO (Tues, Dec. 13) |
| Belgium | Amadou Onana | Group F vs. CRO (Thurs, Dec. 1) |
| Costa Rica | Francisco Calvo | Group E vs. GER (Thurs, Dec. 1) |
| Ecuador | Jhegson Sebastian Mendez | Group A vs. SEN (Tue, Nov. 29) |
| Iran | Alireza Jahanbakhsh | Group B vs. USA (Tue, Nov. 29) |
| Japan | Kou Itakura | Rd. of 16 vs. Croatia (Mon, Dec. 5) |
| Saudi Arabia | Abdulelah Al-Malki | Group C vs. MEX (Wed, Nov. 30) |
| Senegal | Idrissa Gana Gueye | Rd. of 16 vs. England (Sat, Dec. 2) |
World Cup Yellow Cards Rules
Although general yellow card rules apply for the tournament, there are some special considerations. Yellow cards received during the group stage and knockout stage will not continue on to the Semi-finals.
This will mean that semifinal participants have a lower chance of missing the final game due to yellow card accumulation. Only players who receive a red card directly or via two yellows, will miss the final.
Moreover, suspensions that players haven’t served during the 2022 World Cup carry over to the player’s next official FIFA-sanctioned match.
List Of Yellow Cards At World Cup 2022
So far, by the end of the first two quarterfinals there have been a total of 219 caution cards shown. Despite the FIFA rules stating the clearing all yellow cards after the quarter finals, Argentina will sadly have two important players missing for their upcoming semifinal clash against Croatia.
Gonzalo Montiel and Marcus Acuna both ended up picking their second yellow cards in the quarterfinals match. Interestingly, England are the only side to have avoided picking up a single yellow card in any of their matches.
Given below are the full list of players who have received yellow cards going ahead into the tournament:
| Nation | Player | Yellow Cards |
| Argentina | Marcos Acuna | 2 |
| Argentina | Lisandro Martinez | 1 |
| Argentina | Lionel Messi | 1 |
| Argentina | Gonzalo Montiel | 2 |
| Argentina | Nicolas Otamendi | 1 |
| Argentina | Leandro Paredes | 1 |
| Argentina | German Pezzella | 1 |
| Argentina | Cristian Romero | 1 |
| Croatia | Borna Barisic | 1 |
| Croatia | Marcelo Brozovic | 1 |
| Croatia | Mateo Kovacic | 1 |
| Croatia | Dejan Lovren | 1 |
| Croatia | Luka Modric | 1 |
| Croatia | Bruno Petkovic | 1 |
| France | Jules Kounde | 1 |
| France | Aurelien Tchouameni | 1 |
| Morocco | Sofyan Amrabat | 1 |
| Morocco | Abdelhamid Sabiri | 1 |
| Morocco | Romain Saiss | 1 |
| Portugal | Ruben Dias | 1 |
| Portugal | Joao Felix | 1 |
| Portugal | Bruno Fernandes | 1 |
| Portugal | Ruben Neves | 1 |
| Portugal | Danilo Pereira | 1 |
As per the rules, Argentinian and Croatian players who received a yellow card will be zeroed out.