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Yellow cards, red cards and bans: the discipline rules, explained
In one line: What earns each card, what happens after it, and the line where a bad tackle becomes a sending-off - the laws, without the shouting.
The card system is simple and universally understood, which is exactly why every disagreement about it is loud. Here is what the laws actually say.
The yellow card: a caution
A yellow is a formal caution for unsporting behaviour - the catch-all list includes reckless tackles, delaying the restart, dissent, simulation, entering or leaving without permission, and unsporting celebrations. One yellow changes nothing in the match itself. Two yellows in the same match is a sending-off: the second yellow is shown, then the red.
The red card: a sending-off
A straight red is for the serious end of the list: serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting at or towards someone, denying an obvious goal-scoring chance by handling the ball or by an offence, and offensive or abusive language or gestures. The punished team plays the rest of the match with ten players - there is no way to substitute the player back in, and in most competitions the player cannot be replaced at all.
What happens after the match
Suspensions are where the laws hand over to each competition: accumulation rules (how many yellows across a season earn a ban), whether a red brings a one-match or longer ban, and appeals processes all belong to the league or tournament, not to the Laws of the Game. That is why the same tackle can cost one player a match and another three - the framework is universal, the sentencing is local.
The arguments, settled by the law's own words
Was it a yellow or a red? The laws draw the line between careless (a free kick, no card), reckless (a yellow) and using excessive force (a red). It is a judgement ladder, not a formula - which is exactly why it argues. Did VAR review it? VAR can correct clear errors on red cards and mistaken identity - the mechanics are on how VAR actually works. Denying a goal by hand in the box: red card plus a penalty - the double punishment is built into the law.
The discipline table is the quiet ladder underneath every league season - and the points it decides are the same ones counted on how the table works. The laws themselves, maintained by IFAB, live at the source: Fouls and Misconduct, Law 12.
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