Club World Cup 2025 Yellow and Red Card Rules - Everything You Need To Know

The revamped tournament brings together the biggest clubs in world football, including Real Madrid, PSG, and Flamingo. While the final is stated for the 13th of July at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey between Chelsea and PSG

Both team make it this far into the tournament but not without their disciplinary problems, with both teams having seen their players sent off in the cause off the tournament

Here’s everything you didn't know about yellow and red card suspensions during the tournament:

According to official FIFA regulations:

The match referee has full authority to take disciplinary action starting from the pre-match pitch inspection until after the final whistle, including during penalty shootouts.
This power includes handling any misconduct before kickoff.
If a player or staff member commits a serious offense before the game starts, the referee can prevent them from participating. The incident will be reviewed under the tournament’s disciplinary rules.

Yellow Cards: When Suspensions Happen

As outlined in Article 9.4 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code:

A player or technical staff member who receives yellow cards in two separate matches will be automatically suspended for their team's next game. This rule is similar to other FIFA and UEFA competitions.

Red Cards and Consequences

Per Article 9.5 of the regulations:

A direct red card or a second yellow card in the same match leads to an automatic one-match suspension.
Further sanctions may be applied depending on how serious the offense is such as additional match bans or fines.

Yellow Card Reset After Quarter-Finals

As stated in Article 9.3:

Yellow cards are wiped clean after the quarter-finals.
Players entering the semifinals do so with a clean slate, ensuring they don’t miss the final due to accumulated yellows.
However, a red card in the semifinal still means suspension for the final.

This rule is designed to prevent players from missing key matches like the final due to minor offenses earlier in the competition.

Disciplinary Stats from the Tournament

62 matches played
192 goals scored (Average: 3.1 goals/match)
223 cards shown (Average: 3.6 cards/match)
15 red cards (Average: 0.24 red cards/match)

Players with Most Yellow Cards (After 2 Matches)

These players received 2 yellow cards in the tournament:

G. Nonato (Fluminense) – 6 matches
João Neves (PSG) – 6 matches
Liam Delap (Chelsea) – 5 matches, Martinelli, J. Freytes, Renê (Fluminense) – 4–5 matches
Renan Lodi, Rúben Neves, K. Koulibaly (Al-Hilal) – 5 matches, Richard Ríos (Palmeiras) – 5 matches
Yan Couto, Jobe Bellingham (Dortmund) – 4–5 matches, Caicedo, Levi Colwill (Chelsea) – 4 matches
Orkun Kökçü (Benfica) – 4 matches
Tomás Avilés (Inter Miami) – 4 matches
Kristjan Asllani, A. Bastoni (Inter Milan) – 4 matches
A. Barboza (Botafogo), V. Pavlidis (Benfica), G. Gómez, J. Piquerez (Palmeiras) – 4 matches

High Yellow Card Rate (1 Yellow per Match)

Some players averaged 1 yellow per game:

River Plate: G. Galoppo, Enzo Pérez, G. Pezzella, Á. Carreras
Benfica: Tiago Gouveia
ES Tunis: M. Benali, Y. Belaïli
Al Ahly: M. Ateya
Flamengo: Gonzalo Plata, E. Pulgar
Botafogo: Gregore
Al-Ain: Abdoul Traoré
Mamelodi Sundowns: T. Mokoena

Notable Players with 1 Yellow Card (Low Average)

Received just 1 yellow card across 5–6 games:

Real Madrid: Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham, Tchouaméni
PSG: Fabián, Désiré Doué, Marquinhos
Chelsea: Malo Gusto, Cucurella, Cole Palmer, Robert Sánchez, Thiago Silva
Palmeiras: Weverton
Dortmund: Felix Nmecha, Guirassy, Pascal Groß
Plus several others across clubs like Inter, Juventus, Monterrey, Flamengo, Inter Miami, and Man City.