Dani Carvajal’s dismissal for a second yellow card late on in extra time in Spain’s dramatic quarter-final victory over Germany has prompted fervent online debate about what that meant for the full-back’s prospects for the rest of the tournament.
The matter in question was down to the fact that Carvajal had picked up his second yellow card of the tournament earlier in the game, which in itself, carries a one-match ban and ruled him out of the semi-finals if Spain went on to win.
Which, of course, they did… but with Carvajal subsequently receiving a second yellow card, does that add up to a one-match ban or two?
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What the Euro 2024 yellow card rules say after Dani Carvajal confusion
The answer, as far as we can tell, is that Carvajal will still only serve a one-match ban: he would thus miss the semi-final but not the final.
UEFA’s Euro 2024 rules state: “As a rule, a player or a team official sent off from the field of play and/or its immediate surrounds, including the technical area, is automatically suspended for the next match in the competition. In case of serious offences, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body is entitled to augment this punishment, including by extending it to other competitions.”
No specific provision is made for this exact scenario, but the punishment for two accumulated cautions over the course of the competition is also stated as ‘the next match in the competition’. Neither is given as ‘a one match ban’ (or similar), and so there appears to be no grounds on which to stack the two suspension-worthy offences on top of one another.
This is consistent with how these situations are handled in league competition. If a player in the Premier League or EFL picks up their fifth yellow card of the season but then also gets shown a second yellow in the same game and is sent off, they receive a one-match ban and remain on four yellow cards, running the risk of a further suspension for their next yellow.
However, at Euro 2024, yellow cards are scrubbed off after the quarter-finals, so anybody from the four semi-finalists who goes into the game with a single yellow card to their name from earlier rounds need not worry about missing the final if they get booked again.
Spain will face either Portugal or France in the semi-finals after Mikel Merino's late header gave them a 2-1 extra-time victory over Germany.
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