It doesn’t take much - one late tackle, taking just a little too long with a throw-in, muttering a few choice words at the ref... for a brief moment of madness or sheer bad luck, any player can find themselves missing out of one of the biggest games of their career.

Who will miss the semi-finals through suspension?

Only one player will sit out the semis due to suspension from a previous round: England center-back Jarell Quansah was slapped with a two-game ban after being sent off in the Round of 16 game against Mexico. He served the first half of that suspension in the last round, missing England’s quarterfinal victory over Norway, after the semi-final he will be available again - if Tuchel’s men advance to the final.

It can’t be much fun missing out on a World Cup semi-final or the final itself just for an avoidable booking. Luckily, all the players carrying bookings from the knockout stage head into the semi-finals with the slate wiped clean.

Yellow card slate wiped clean twice at World Cup 2026

At the 2026 World Cup, two yellow cards triggers an automatic one-game suspension, but players now get some leeway. Yellow cards are accumulated, then reset at two points of the tournament - after the group stage, and after the quarter finals. (In previous editions, single yellow cards were only cancelled once - after the quarter-finals).

Article 10 paragraph 2 of FIFA’s 2026 World Cup Regulations state: “Single yellow cards and pending one- or two-match suspensions as a consequence of cautions in different matches in the preliminary competition, an indirect red card, or a direct red card for denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity or for serious foul play are not carried over to the final competition. Any other pending match suspensions imposed as a result of a red card in matches in the preliminary competition are carried over to the final competition.”

There were nine players who went into the quarter finals on one booking and with the risk of a ban in the semis. All of them have been given a reprieve after the yellow cards were reset to zero ahead of the semi-finals.

Why have FIFA done this? Because in previous editions, there have been several cases of teams left without key players due to a second booking in the later stages causing a one-match suspension - a recent example was Brazil who left withou t their captain Thiago Silva for their semi-final against Germany after he was booked in the quarter final.

What about red cards?

The suspension rules for red cards are more straightforward.

Players who are sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the same match must serve a one-game suspension in the following game, regardless of the round. The same applies to straight red cards, with one exception.

If a player commits an especially serious offense, FIFA can review the incident and impose a longer suspension. This has already happened at the 2026 World Cup, with Qatar’s Assim Madibo receiving a five-match ban and South Africa’s Themba Zwane handed a three-game suspension for serious foul play during the group stage.

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