Where have all the red cards gone?
Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 09.12.22. | 15:24
Unlike the previous World Cups, this one in Qatar tends to be highly mild towards the players in terms of sending off
What do Cameroon's Vincent Aboubakar and Wales' keeper Wayne Hennessey have in common? Until today, those two are the only players that have been sent off at the 2022 World Cup. Just two red cards in 56 games! And that Aboubakar's was actually the consequence of the second booking due to his euphoric goal celebration during which he took off his shirt.
So, what's going on?
Moment ref apologised to Vincent Aboubakar before giving him a red card. Wholesome.pic.twitter.com/fTtAlazd2w
— Kels. (@KelsUF) December 3, 2022
Probably the answer lies in some change in direction regarding referees and their rules. If we scrutinize the thing a little bit more, we'll see a blatant decline in the number of red cards over the years and in World Cup editions.
For instance, since the introduction of a 32-team WC back in 1998 until 2018, we had nothing but double-digit numbers of sent-off players. To be precise, it was like this...
WC 1998: 22
WC 2002: 17
WC 2006: 28
WC 2010: 17
WC 2014: 10
WC 2018: 4
WC 2022: 2
As we see, the number of red cards peaked at the 2006 WC, with 28 of them in 62 games. The one that will stay in the collective memory for sure is Zinedine Zidane's headbutting Marco Materazzi and being sent off in the 110th minute of his last-ever game. After that tournament, however, the tables started to turn. The decline in the number of red cards shown was visible, indeed, but it became much more obvious when it dropped to only four in 2018 and now even further to two.
The two goal scorers then became entangled in one of the most unforgettable moments not just in World Cup history but in football history, maybe even sporting history as the Zinedine Zidane head butted Marco Materazzi in the chest. pic.twitter.com/HseYL5qdhR
— Football Scrapbook 📙 (@FtblScrapbook) December 8, 2022
The first-ever player to be sent off in a World Cup match was Peru's Placido Galindo against Romania in the 1930 tournament, but Carlos Caszely of Chile was the first player to actually be shown a physical red card when he was sent off against West Germany in 1974.
Throughout the history of the World Cup, 64 nations have seen a player sent off. The countries with the most red cards in the competition are Brazil (11), Argentina (10), Cameroon (nine), Uruguay (nine) and Italy (eight).
Despite leading the way when it comes to the number of dismissals, Brazil have not picked up any red cards in the past two tournaments. Maybe the Croatia tie will change that...
