The Red Card

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Finishing the section on Disciplinary Sanctions from Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct, we focus on red cards.
 
A red card is given...

• only to players - not coaches, spectators, or other personnel - and...

• is a formal signal to the player that he or she has been sent-off (kicked out of the game) for...

• committing one of seven sending-off [red card] offences:

           1.  serious foul play

          2.  violent conduct

          3.  spitting at an opponent or any other person

          4.  denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by
               deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within his
               own penalty area)

          5.  denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards
               the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick

          6.  using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures

          7.  receiving a second caution [yellow card] in the same match

A player, substitute or substituted player who has been sent off must leave the vicinity of the field of play and the technical area..  The full text of the law pertaining to disciplinary sanctions (including yellow cards) is provided below.

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From Law 12

Disciplinary Sanctions

The yellow card is used to communicate that a player, substitute or substituted player has been cautioned.

The red card is used to communicate that a player, substitute or substituted player has been sent off.

Only a player, substitute or substituted player may be shown the red or yellow card.

The referee has the authority to take disciplinary sanctions from the moment he enters the field of play until he leaves the field of play after the final whistle.

A player who commits a cautionable or sending-off offence, either on or off the field of play, whether directed towards an opponent, a team-mate, the referee, an assistant referee or any other person, is disciplined according to the nature of the offence committed.

 Cautionable Offences

 A player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he commits any of the following seven offences:

 • unsporting behaviour

 • dissent by word or action

 • persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game

 • delaying the restart of play

 • failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick, free kick or throw-in

 • entering or re-entering the fi eld of play without the referee’s permission

 • deliberately leaving the fi eld of play without the referee’s permission

A substitute or substituted player is cautioned if he commits any of the following three offences:

• unsporting behaviour

• dissent by word or action

• delaying the restart of play

Sending-off Offences

A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off [shown the red card] if he commits any of the following seven offences:

• serious foul play

 • violent conduct

• spitting at an opponent or any other person

• denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity
   by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within
   his own penalty area)

• denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards
  the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick

• using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures

• receiving a second caution in the same match

A player, substitute or substituted player who has been sent off must leave the
vicinity of the field of play and the technical area.