FIFA is planning to change yellow card suspension rules for the 2026 World Cup. BBC Sport reports that a second amnesty stage would be added after the group stage. The FIFA Council is set to discuss the proposal on Tuesday in Vancouver, Canada.
The rule change is driven by the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, adding an extra knockout round. Media reports indicate that under current rules, a team playing five matches to reach the quarter-finals risks a suspension after two bookings. BBC Sport reports that FIFA fears many players would be suspended for the semi-finals after accumulating yellow cards over six matches.
FIFA hopes, according to Fotbollskanalen, that the change will reduce the risk of players missing semi-finals and other important matches. The new system would retain two bookings as the threshold for a ban. According to Fotbollskanalen, after the group stage, all yellow cards would be reset to zero for the knockout phase.
BBC Sport reports that cautions in two of the first three knockout matches—the round of 32, round of 16, and quarter-finals—would result in a suspension. Fotbollskanalen reports that yellow cards would also be wiped after the quarter-finals, as is currently the case.