FIFA is reportedly considering a change to the way yellow card suspensions are handled at the 2026 World Cup in a bid to make the system fairer for players.
According to BBC Sport, the proposed adjustment is set to be reviewed during a FIFA Council meeting in Vancouver later this week.
Under the current rule, any player who receives two yellow cards before the quarter-finals is automatically suspended for the following match. However, with the expanded tournament format featuring 48 teams and more fixtures, FIFA is concerned this could result in too many players missing crucial games.
To address this, FIFA is proposing to “wipe” all yellow cards twice during the competition — once after the group stage and again after the quarter-finals. This would allow players to reset at those stages without carrying previous bookings forward.
With the new plan, players could still face suspension for accumulating two yellow cards, but only within specific phases. For instance, a player would need to pick up two yellow cards during the group stage to be suspended, or two cards during the knockout rounds (from the round of 32 to the quarter-finals).
FIFA believes this method would lower the risk of key players being unavailable for major matches such as the semi-finals.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to take place from June 11 to July 19 across the United States of America, Canada, and Mexico.