Yellow Card & Cautions

A player is cautioned for unsporting behaviour, dissent by word or action, persistent offences, delaying the restart of play, failing to respect the required distance at a restart, and entering, re-entering or deliberately leaving the field without permission. Two cautions in the same match are a sending-off. Several 2026/27 delay offences now cost the team the restart instead of bringing a card.^6, ^7, ^8, ^9, ^10, ^11, ^12, ^13, ^26, ²⁷

Key points

✓Two cautions in the same match are a sending-off^26, ²⁷
✓The six cautionable headings: unsporting behaviour, dissent, persistent offences, delaying the restart, failing to respect the required distance, and entering or leaving the field without permission^6, ^7, ^8, ^9, ^10, ^11, ^12, ¹³
✓Simulation and a reckless direct free kick offence are both unsporting behaviour^14, ^15, ¹⁶
✓Stopping a promising attack is cautionable, except where a penalty is awarded for a non-deliberate handball, or for an offence that was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for it^14, ^17, ¹⁸
✓The delaying clause now points at Laws 3, 15 and 16 and their protocols, where the sanction is the restart rather than a card²³
✓Delaying a throw-in gives it to the opponents, delaying a goal kick concedes a corner, and a goalkeeper holding the ball over eight seconds concedes a corner^3, ^28, ²⁹

Show the remaining 4 key points

✓The caution in those cases is for a player who then excessively delays the restart on top of the primary sanction²³
✓Two delaying offences are named in Law 12 itself: touching the ball after the referee has stopped play, and taking a free kick from the wrong position to force a retake^23, ^24, ²⁵
✓Advantage removes the caution for a DOGSO offence where the non-offending team scores, and for an offence that stopped a promising attack⁵
✓A red card arising from a clearly incorrect second caution falls within the VAR's red card category^1, ²

Read the full rule

Scenarios

Scenario 1

Deliberate foul to stop a counter-attack

Foul

A midfielder deliberately trips an opponent to stop a dangerous counter-attack. There is no goalscoring opportunity.

Correct call: Caution for unsporting behaviour: an offence which interferes with or stops a promising attack.

Common mistake: Only awarding the free kick without a card. Note the exception that goes with this one: no caution where a penalty is awarded for an offence that was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball.

Law^14, ¹⁸

Scenario 2

Goalkeeper wastes time with the ball in hand

Foul

The goalkeeper holds the ball for over ten seconds without releasing it, clearly wasting time.

Correct call: Corner kick to the opposing team, for controlling the ball with the hands or arms inside their penalty area for more than eight seconds. The sanction is the restart, not a card.

Common mistake: Showing a yellow and awarding an indirect free kick. That was the old six second rule, and the current sanction is a corner with no caution attached.

Law^3, ⁴

Scenario 3

Free kick taken from the wrong position to force a retake

Foul

A team is defending a free kick near their own area. Their opponent takes it several metres from the correct spot, and the referee orders a retake, which uses up more time.

Correct call: Caution the kicker. Taking a free kick from the wrong position to force a retake is named in the delaying-the-restart list in Law 12.

Common mistake: Ordering the retake and moving on. This is the one delaying offence in that list a referee is most likely to treat as an honest mistake, and it is named precisely because it is often not one.

Law^23, ²⁵

Scenario 4

Player protests a decision aggressively

Foul

A player runs up to the referee and repeatedly shouts at them after a decision they disagree with.

Correct call: Caution for dissent by word or action.

Common mistake: Letting it go with a verbal warning. Dissent is a cautionable offence in its own right and does not have to be persistent to be one.

Law^6, ⁸

The full rule

The yellow card communicates a caution. Law 12 lists the cautionable offences: unsporting behaviour, dissent by word or action, persistent offences, delaying the restart of play, failing to respect the required distance when play restarts with a dropped ball, corner kick, free kick or throw-in, and entering, re-entering or deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission. Unsporting behaviour is itself a list, and it is the one that carries most of the cautions a fan sees: simulation, a reckless direct free kick offence, handling to interfere with or stop a promising attack, any other offence that interferes with or stops a promising attack, DOGSO where the referee awards a penalty kick for an offence that was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball, handling in an attempt to score, the deliberate trick to pass the ball to the goalkeeper, and verbally distracting an opponent. Two of those carry their own exceptions, both worth knowing: there is no caution for stopping a promising attack where a penalty is awarded for a non-deliberate handball offence, and none where a penalty is awarded for an offence that was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball. The delaying category is where the 2026/27 edition moved furthest, and it moved away from the card rather than towards it. Referees must caution players who excessively delay the restart of play, including as outlined in Laws 3, 15 and 16 and their protocols, or by kicking or carrying the ball away or provoking a confrontation by deliberately touching the ball after the referee has stopped play, or by taking a free kick from the wrong position to force a retake. The cross-reference is doing the work: delaying a throw-in gives the throw to the opponents, delaying a goal kick concedes a corner, and a goalkeeper controlling the ball for more than eight seconds concedes a corner. In those cases the restart is the sanction and the caution is reserved for a player who then delays excessively on top of it. Advantage also removes cautions rather than deferring them, in the two cases set out on the advantage page. A second caution in the same match is a sending-off, and a red card arising from a clearly incorrect second caution is within the VAR's red card category.^1, ^2, ^3, ^5, ^6, ^7, ^8, ^9, ^10, ^11, ^12, ^13, ^14, ^15, ^16, ^17, ^18, ^19, ^20, ^21, ^22, ^23, ^24, ^25, ^26, ²⁷