Yellow & Red Cards — Most Booked Players in Europe's Top Leagues

Suspension thresholds are not the same everywhere, which is why a player can pick up eight bookings in one country without missing a game and be suspended after five in another. In the Premier League, five yellow cards before the two-thirds point of the season bring a one-match ban, with a further ban at ten and fifteen. La Liga and Serie A both suspend a player on the fifth booking, and Serie A adds extra bans as totals climb. The Bundesliga uses a five-card threshold as well, while Ligue 1 applies bans at three cards within a short run of matches in addition to the season totals.

UEFA competitions run a separate count: yellow cards in the Champions League do not carry over into domestic football, and vice versa. A straight red is normally a one-match ban, extended for violent conduct or denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, and a second yellow always means one match out.

What the numbers actually tell you

A high card count is not automatically a sign of a dirty player. Defensive midfielders who make tactical fouls to stop counter-attacks, full-backs facing quick wingers, and captains who argue decisions all accumulate yellows quickly. Red cards are far rarer and much noisier as a statistic — a single sending-off can put a player at the top of a chart for a whole season.

Use it for team news

Before a big weekend, cross-check this page with this weekend's fixtures to spot who is one booking from a ban. Then look at the attacking side of the ledger with our top scorers and top assists charts, or see how a suspension might swing a result in our match predictions.