Soccer
How many red cards have there been at each World Cup?
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The World Cup kicked off with a bang on day one as co-hosts Mexico beat South Africa to get off to a winning start, but all the post-match talk was about the red cards.
In all, the match saw three red cards in a game that was far from feisty, but it was evidence of how officials may referee in this month's competition and how much of a role VAR will play.
The trio of dismissals at the Azteca are as many as the whole of the last World Cup in Qatar and could suggest we could be in for a notable number of dismissals in 2026.
So, what number will it need to reach to rank as the tournament with the highest number of sendings off?
David Beckham’s best World Cup moments
How many cards were there at each World Cup?
The three red cards in 2026's curtain raiser means there's now been 180 sendings off in total at World Cup finals since 1930.
The first of which came in the inaugural tournament, with the unfortunate milestone belonging to Peru's Plácido Galindo, who was shown red in a game against Romania.
If, though, this year is to try to break the current competition record, then it will need to match 2006 in Germany, when there were 28 red cards across the finals.
That's nine more than the next-closest haul, 19, at France '98
Total red cards at each World Cup tournament
- Uruguay 1930 - 1
- Italy 1934 - 1
- France 1938 - 4
- Switzerland 1954 - 3
- Sweden 1958 - 3
- Chile 1962 - 6
- England 1966 - 5
- Mexico 1970 - 0
- West Germany 1974 - 5
- Argentina 1978 - 3
- Spain 1982 - 5
- Mexico 1986 - 8
- Italy 1990 - 16
- USA 1994 - 15
- France 1998 - 19
- Japan and South Korea 2002 - 16
- Germany 2006 - 28
- South Africa 2010 - 16
- Brazil 2014 - 9
- Russia 2018 - 4
- Qatar 2022 - 4
Five memorable World Cup red cards
Rudi Völler and Frank Rijkaard - 1990
A spat - in every sense of the word - for the ages between two huge faces of the era.
The pair were involved in a heated exchange during West Germany's win over the Netherlands, where arguments quickly turned physical after Rijkard flobbed in the direction of the German striker's famous mullet not once, but twice, and the pair were shown their marching orders.
David Beckham - 1998
'10 BRAVE LIONS, ONE STUPID BOY' read the headline following David Beckham's rush of blood to the head when he kicked out at Diego Simeone right in front of the referee during England's epic clash with Argentina.
The straight red contributed to the Three Lions' exit from France 98, and Becks became public enemy number one with a section of misguided fans following the finals.
Josip Simunic - 2006
The Croatian's exit was more about ref Graham Poll than any major controversy around his behaviour, because Simunic will remain a quiz question for the ages after his THREE yellow cards against Australia in 2006.
Having already been booked, the defender looked to be set for the early bath in the second half until English official Poll forgot he'd already booked him and showed him another yellow.
To really hammer home his mistake, Poll then showed him a third yellow after the final whistle for dissent and finally the red he'd already 'earned' during the game.
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Zinedine Zidane - 2006
Easily the most famous red card of all time, as one of the icons of the game used his final moments as a professional footballer to deliver a killer blow.
With the World Cup final locked at 1-1, Zidane took particular offence to comments made - allegedly about his family - by Matteo Materazzi in extra-time and promptly decided to turn around and headbutt the defender in the chest. Thus ending his evening, his football career and France's hopes of landing the trophy.
Luis Suarez - 2010
Never one to shy away from drama, Luis Suarez's name is still probably mud in Ghana after this blatant red card in the quarter-final of the 2010 finals.
With minutes remaining, the African side looked to have won the game after a late scramble in the box, but Dominic Adiyiah's header was cleared off the line with both hands by Suarez, and he was shown a red card for handball.
Ghana then missed the subsequent penalty, much to the delight of the watching striker and went on to lose the tie on spot kicks.
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