What is a yellow card?

The way a referee pulls a yellow card of their pocket, holds it up with authority, and then scribbles something down on it determinedly after stopping the game for bad behavior has inspired a dozen improv skits in my mind.

She walks aggressively toward her scene partners, snapping a yellow card out of her belt mid-stride, holding it up for everyone to see. Failure to “yes, and…” YELLOW CARD!

The crowd chants, “You can’t do that!” and scene.

I went on a deep dive on mlssoccer.com this morning because I wanted to know how many yellow cards you needed to rack up to get suspended, like Eddi Tagseth for last night’s Nashville Soccer Club match against DC United.

A yellow card is warning from the referee to chill out. There are a lot of reasons why a player might be awarded a yellow card. Some of the most common are delay of game, intentional rough play, aggressively disagreeing with a referee’s decision, or other lack of respect (soccer.com). The referee can issue a yellow card to a player, but also a coach, technical staff member or team official who does something against the rules.

When a player accumulates five yellow cards, he is fined and suspended for the next game. The fines start at $250 and increase up to $1000 before they start doubling. After the first five-card accumulation, fines and suspensions kick in at 3-card and eventually 2-card accumulations.

Here are some other things I’ve learned about yellow cards:

• If a player receives two yellow cards in one match, it’s the equivalent of a red card, and he must leave the match and is suspended for at least one more match. In this scenario, only the first yellow card counts toward the player’s overall yellow card accumulation.
• Yellow card accumulation is reduced by one card for each five consecutive games played without the player receiving a yellow or red card. It is not possible to have negative yellow cards.
• Referees can be seen writing notes directly on the cards that may include the player’s number, the time of the warning, and what the warning was given for (@RefereePOV).
• In 2020, researchers published a report called “Global study of penalty cards in professional football” in a journal of the International Centre for Sports Studies. In the study sample, they found that referees averaged 4.42 yellow cards per match, teams playing away received the majority of yellow cards, and the penalties were mostly handed out in the second half.

Next week, I’ll turn my attention to the MLS Golden Boot race as Nashville Soccer Club forward Sam Surridge has taken the lead for most goals scored this season.

Got something to add? You’re invited to share what you know about yellow cards in the comments, but remember to do it like you’re a person who loves the game and wants other people to love it, too. If I made a mistake or missed some nuance, just let me know, and I’m happy to update the post.