Law 12 · Fouls and cards
Fouls and cards in football: yellow, red and disciplinary action
A practical guide to Law 12: how fouls are judged, when a challenge needs no card, when yellow or red applies, and how disciplinary action relates to the restart of play.
Careless, reckless and excessive force
Physical offences such as charging, kicking, pushing, striking, tackling or tripping can lead to a direct free kick. IFAB distinguishes the manner of the challenge: careless means no disciplinary card is required; reckless requires a caution (yellow card); excessive force or endangering an opponent’s safety requires a sending-off (red card).
Common reasons for a yellow card
Cautionable offences include delaying a restart, dissent by word or action, entering, re-entering or deliberately leaving the field without permission, failing to respect the required distance at a restart, persistent offences and forms of unsporting behaviour. Two separate cautionable offences can mean two yellow cards and then a red card.
When a red card is shown
Sending-off offences include serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting or biting, certain offences that deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, offensive, insulting or abusive language or actions, and receiving a second caution in the same match. The exact sanction depends on the specific situation under Law 12.
The card and the restart are separate decisions
A disciplinary sanction does not by itself decide how play restarts. Depending on the offence and whether the ball was in play, the restart may be a direct free kick, penalty kick, indirect free kick or the restart that was already due. If advantage is played, a card may be shown at the next stoppage when the Laws require it.