Three red cards in the opening match, at the previous two World Cups only four players received a red card | Sport

Mexico and South Africa provided a high-profile first match of the 2026 World Cup on Thursday evening. With three direct red cards in the first ninety minutes, this tournament is already close to the total number of red cards of the past two World Cups.

At the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, only four players were sent off in 64 matches. That number has now almost been equaled and there are still 103 matches to be played, up to and including the World Cup final on July 19. If the referees continue to hand out red cards at this rate, we will reach 312. The record now stands at 28 red cards at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

At the 2022 World Cup, only Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey received a direct red card. Vincent Aboubakar, Denzel Dumfries and Walid Cheddira received two yellow cards. Dumfries only received his red card after the penalty series between the Dutch team and Argentina in the quarter-finals by Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz. Aboubakar and Cheddira received a red card in the 93rd minute, Aboubakar because he took off his shirt after a goal.

Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio first sent South African players Yaya Sithole (’60) and Themba Zwane (’84) off the field in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup. In the 92nd minute, Mexican captain César Montes was also sent off the field. The players are in any case suspended for the two group matches, in which Mexico plays against South Korea and South Africa against the Czech Republic.

South Africa’s second red card was also a historic one. This made ‘Bafana Bafana’ the first team to receive multiple red cards in one match at a World Cup since the 2006 World Cup. The match at the time? ‘The Battle of Nuremberg’ between the Netherlands and Portugal in the eighth finals of the tournament in Germany.

The Russian referee Valentin Ivanov drew 20 cards in that match, of which 16 were yellow and four were red; a record in the history of the World Cup. With this he passed Spaniard Antonio Lopez Nieto, who drew 16 yellow cards during the group match between Germany and Cameroon during the 2002 World Cup. According to then FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Ivanov himself deserved a yellow card, he said after the match in 2006. The 28 red cards at the 2006 World Cup in Germany is still the record.

Former Cameroon defender Rigobert Song (in 1994 and 1998) and French star Zinedine Zidane (1998 and 2006) are the only players to receive two red cards at the World Cup.