Misconduct in football (soccer) is any conduct by a player which is deemed by the referee to warrant a disciplinary sanction (caution or dismissal) in accordance with Law 12 the Laws of the Game. Misconduct may occur at any time, including when the ball is out of play, during half-time and before and after the game. Further, both players and substitutes may be sanctioned for misconduct. This is unlike fouls, which may only be committed by players, and only against an opponent when the ball is in play. A player (wearing the red kit) has penetrated the defence (in the white kit) and is taking a shot at goal. ... A referee presides over a game of association football (soccer). ... The Laws of the Game (also known as the Laws of Football) are the rules governing a game of association football (soccer). ... A substitute is a player in football (soccer) who is brought on to the pitch during a match in exchange for an existing player. ... A foul in football (soccer) is an unfair act by a player which is deemed by the referee to contravene Law 12 of the Laws of the Game. ...

Players are cautioned with a yellow card, and dismissed from the field with a red card, which sometimes have a round shape.

Misconduct may result in the player either receiving a caution (indicated by a yellow card) or being dismissed from the field (indicated by a red card). When a player is cautioned, the player's details are then (traditionally) recorded by the referee in a small notebook; hence a caution is also known as a booking. The referee has considerable discretion in applying the Laws. In particular, the offence of "unsporting behaviour" may be used to deal with most events that violate the spirit of the game, even if they are not listed as specific offences. Image File history File links Yellow_card. ... Image File history File links Red_card. ... A yellow card is used in many sports as a means of cautioning a player regarding their conduct, or indicating that a player is to receive a certain level of punishment. ... A red card displayed to a player indicates a penalty This article is about red cards in sports. ...

The system of cautioning and dismissal has existed for many decades, but the idea of language-neutral coloured cards originated with British referee Ken Aston, who got the idea while sitting in his car at a traffic light. The first major use of the cards was in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, but they were not made mandatory at all levels until 1992. Kenneth George Ken Aston MBE (1 September 1915 - 23 October 2001) was an English teacher, soldier, and football referee, who was responsible for many important developments in football refereeing. ... “Traffic Signal” redirects here. ... Qualifying countries The 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from May 31 to June 21. ...

Consequences

A player who has been cautioned by being shown a yellow card may continue to play in a match. A yellow card may be defined as the first and the last warning provided to a player for misconduct during a match. When a player is shown a second card in the same match, said player is then shown the red card and dismissed from the field of play.

A player who has been shown the red card (whether directly or as a result of having been shown two yellow cards) is required to leave the field of play immediately and must take no further part in the game; failure to do so will result in forfeit of the game by that player's team. The player who has been dismissed cannot be replaced during the game; their team must continue the game with one player fewer. If this causes the team to have fewer than the required minimum number players, then the match is abandoned.

When a goalkeeper is sent-off (regardless of a second yellow or a direct red card), the goalkeeper must leave the field immediately. If a substitute goalkeeper is available, he can be brought on at the expense of an outfield player. If no substitute goalkeeper is available, or the team has already made the maximum permitted substitutions, an outfield player has to go in goal. This often happened in the period when teams were only allowed one or no substitutes, and on occasion outfield players were known to perform very well in goal, some even saving penalty kicks.

Post-game consequences

Many football leagues and federations have off-field penalties for players who accumulate a certain number of cautions in a season, tournament or phase of a tournament. Typically these take the form of a suspension from playing in their team's next game after that number of cautions has been reached (two in international tournaments and five in a league season). Such off-field penalties are determined by league rules, and not by the Laws of the Game.

Similarly, a send-off usually also results in additional sanctions, most commonly in the form of suspensions from playing for a number of future games, although financial fines may also be imposed. The exact punishments are determined by tournament or competition rules, and not by the Laws of the Game. FIFA in particular has been adamant that a red card in any football competition must result in the guilty player being suspended for at least the next game without the right to appeal.

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, any player receiving two yellow cards during the three group stage matches, or two yellow cards in the knockout stage matches had to serve a one match suspension for the next game. A single yellow card did not carry over from the group stage to the knockout stages. Should the player pick up his second yellow during the team's final group match, he would miss the Round of 16 if his team qualified for it. However, suspensions due to yellow cards do not carry beyond the World Cup finals. Qualifying countries The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the eighteenth instance of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international association football world championship tournament. ... The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the mens national football teams of the member nations of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA...

The Football Association

However, the English Football Association has defied FIFA with respect to appeals. As of 2006 in England, if a direct red card is shown the player is dismissed from the field immediately and faces an automatic three-match ban, but this can be overturned with a successful appeal. The onus is on the player to prove his case and the ban can be extended if the FA deems the appeal to be frivolous. In the case of a red card that was shown after two yellow cards, the player is dismissed and receives an automatic one match ban without the right to appeal. The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ...

The FA's appeals policy is generally seen as quite restrictive and only a small percentage of red cards are ever overturned. Nonetheless, successful red card appeals have become a constant source of friction between the FA and FIFA. FIFA President Sepp Blatter has occasionally mooted suspending the FA from FIFA and barring England from international tournaments for its continued defiance of FIFA directives, but as of 2006 had taken no further action. Joseph Blatter (center), Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (right) and Ricardo Teixeira (seated) in Brasília, September 28, 2006. ...

Cautionable offences (Yellow Card)

A player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he/she commits any of the following offences: A police caution is an alternative to prosecution available to be administered by the police in the United Kingdom. ...

• Unsporting behaviour (includes extravagant celebration, such as covering one's head with one's jersey or removing it over the head, and simulating actions intended to deceive the referee, such as diving); until 1997 this was called "ungentlemanly conduct"[1]
• Dissent by word or action
• Persistent infringement on the Laws of the Game
• Delaying the restart of play (includes deliberate time-wasting tactics)
• Failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick, throw-in or free kick
• Entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee’s permission
• Deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee’s permission.
• Removing shirt after scoring goal.

A substitute or substituted player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he/she commits any of the following three offences: A police caution is an alternative to prosecution available to be administered by the police in the United Kingdom. ...

• Unsporting behaviour
• Showing dissent by word or action
• Delaying the restart of play

Sending-off offences (Red Card)

A player, substitute or substituted player is dismissed from the field of play and shown the red card if he/she commits any of the following offences:

• Serious foul play
• Violent conduct
• Spitting at an opponent or any other person
• Denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball
• Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick (known as a professional foul)
• Using offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures
• Receiving a second caution (yellow card) in the same match

A player, substitute or substituted player who has been dismissed and shown the red card may not remain on or in the vicinity of the field of play or the technical area. Generally, a player who has been dismissed will be expected to proceed to the dressing room immediately. Professional Foul is a play written by Tom Stoppard. ... A yellow card is used in many sports as a means of cautioning a player regarding their conduct, or indicating that a player is to receive a certain level of punishment. ... The term dressing room may be applied to different places. ...

Discretion

The referee has a very large degree of discretion as to whether an act constitutes a cautionable offence under these very broad categories. For this reason, refereeing decisions are sometimes controversial. Other Laws may specify circumstances under which a caution should or must be given, and numerous directives to referees also provide guidance. A police caution is an alternative to prosecution available to be administered by the police in the United Kingdom. ...

A controversial change in 2004 to the Laws of the Game championed by FIFA President Sepp Blatter mandated automatic yellow cards for players who remove their shirts while celebrating goals (shirt removal has been considered unsportsmanlike behavior by FIFA since at least the 1980s, but punishing the player was left to the referee until 2004). In addition an instruction has been in the additional instructions at the end of the Laws of the Game for some time that should a player jump over or climb on to a perimeter fence to the Field of Play, they should be cautioned for unsporting behaviour. This was seen as mainly preventing incidents in professional football matches where crowds had rushed towards players and had led to injuries. Joseph Blatter (center), Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (right) and Ricardo Teixeira (seated) in Brasília, September 28, 2006. ...

After compiling data from 2,600 top English soccer matches from 1996 to 2003, a study by Peter Dawson from the University of Bath suggests that statistically referees tend to favor the home team. [2]

Restarts

If the ball is out of play when the misconduct occurs, play is restarted according to the reason the ball went out of play before the misconduct.

If the misconduct occurs when the ball is in play, play need not be stopped to administer a caution or a dismissal, as these may be done at the next stoppage of play (this is usually the case when the opposing team would gain an advantage in having play continue). When this is the case play is restarted according the reason for the ball going out of play, e.g. a throw-in if play stopped due to the ball crossing a touch line. A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of association football (soccer). ...

If play is stopped to administer a caution or dismissal:

• If a foul has occurred as well as misconduct, play is restarted according to the nature of the foul (either an indirect free kick, direct free kick or penalty kick to the opposing team);
• If no foul under Law 12 has occurred, play is restarted with an indirect free kick to the opposing team.

An indirect free kick is a method of restarting play in a game of association football (soccer). ... A direct free kick A direct free kick is a method of restarting play in a game of association football (soccer) following a foul. ... Bonaventure Kalou of the Ivory Coast takes a penalty against Dragoslav Jevrić of S&M during the 2006 World Cup. ...

Non-players

Non-players such as managers and coaches may not be cautioned or sent from the technical area in the above manner. However, according to Law 5 the referee "takes action against team officials who fail to conduct themselves in a responsible manner and may, at his discretion, expel them from the field of play and its immediate surroundings." This usually results in the expelled individual watching the game from the stands. In some cases, the non-player may have to wait inside the dug out or in the dressing room if being in the stands would cause anger. For example, if a team official has an altercation with a match official which appears to inflame the supporters, that person would need to be removed from the arena completely.

See also

• Laws of the Game
• Foul (football)