FIFA is considering a major overhaul of its disciplinary rules for the expanded World Cup, with the goal of reducing player suspensions for accumulated yellow cards.
According to BBC Sport, FIFA’s proposal would introduce a second amnesty period during the tournament: yellow cards would be wiped clean both at the end of the group stage and again after the quarter-finals.
Currently, players are suspended after receiving two yellow cards over a series of matches, meaning key players can be forced to miss crucial knockout games.
With the tournament growing from 32 to 48 teams, teams will have to play more matches to reach the final stages—potentially up to six games before the semi-finals. FIFA believes this increases the risk of suspensions for minor infractions, leading to more players missing decisive matches.
Rather than raising the suspension threshold to three yellow cards, FIFA favors the introduction of two-card reset points. Under this system, players would only be suspended if they receive two yellow cards in either the group stage or the knockout rounds up to the quarter-finals.
This change aims to maintain discipline while ensuring that critical matches are less likely to be missing star players due to accumulated yellow cards.
The proposal will be considered at an upcoming FIFA Council meeting, where officials may decide whether to adopt the new rule.
