For every football supporter of a certain age, the thought of a player receiving a yellow card in the semi-final of a World Cup and knowing he’ll miss the final conjures up the same image.
World Cup 1990 was a lifetime ago but the image of inconsolable England midfielder Paul Gascoigne after he was booked against West Germany became every bit as iconic as the player himself.
As Bobby Robson’s England dug deep to reach the final in Rome that summer, Gascoigne knew that he would be suspended on the basis of accumulated yellow cards. It was academic in the end but Gazza’s tears left an indelible mark on English football folklore.
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Will players be suspended for the World Cup final?
Gascoigne isn’t alone in potentially missing a career-defining match because of a yellow card suspension but there has been a movement away from punishing players so severely, not least because major tournaments are bigger and longer than ever.
In 1990, the World Cup had half as many teams as World Cup 2026, which started with 48 teams and has an additional round of 32 for the first time. As such, the nations reaching the last four will play eight times and accumulated bookings could become a real problem.
FIFA mitigates the issue of unwarranted suspensions by way of a yellow card amnesty. At a certain point in the World Cup, yellow cards that haven’t already earned a ban for the player question are wiped.
World Cup 2026 is the first major tournament where this amnesty has happened twice. Yellow cards were relieved of their suspension potential at the end of the group stage and again after the quarter-finals, meaning players merely had to avoid two bookings in three matches – twice – to ensure they wouldn’t get a ban for accumulated yellows.
As we wait patiently in the foothills before climbing into the semi-finals, no player from Spain, France, England or Argentina has a yellow card next to his name. Any player collecting a yellow card in the last four will remain eligible for Sunday’s World Cup final.
Jude Bellingham of England and Argentina’s Gonzalo Montiel were both cautioned in the round of 32. In the round of 16, Manu Kone, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola were all booked for France, and Ferran Torres for Spain.
Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly and Declan Rice picked up yellow cards on the pitch for England during their game against Mexico. Jordan Henderson got a booking without playing at the Azteca.
Pau Cubarsi and Aymeric Laporte (Spain) were booked in the quarter-finals, as were Lautaro Martinez, Thiago Almada and Manuel Lopez (Argentina), so a total of 15 players have had their yellow cards wiped before the semi-finals and can be booked, once, without missing the final.
Players who are sent off for any reason in the semi-finals, including two yellow cards, will still be suspended for the final at New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.
