What is the Copa América pink card and when will it be used?

Lionel Messi will go up against Vini Jr, Fede Valverde and Brenden Aaronson at this year’s Copa América which will see the world champions defend the title that they won back in 2021. However, ahead of the tournament, the news of a new card has been announced that officials will be allowed to use during games.

CONMEBOL will implement the pink card at Copa América 2024. The tournament, which will begin on June 20 and finish on July 14, will see the use of the new card in specific moments of the game.

When will the pink card be used in the Copa América?

This card will serve as an indication to replace a player who has suffered a physical challenge that has affected their head and is suspected of having suffered some type of head injury or concussion.

The organisation’s Directorate of Competitions and Operations has announced that a possible sixth (or seventh) substitution will be added to prioritise of the health of the players.

In order for coaches to make this change, they must inform the on-field referee or the fourth official and the head referee will display this pink card.

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What happens if a player receives a pink card at the Copa América?

This substitution may only be made once for each team in addition to the five substitutions that may be made during the 90 minutes (or six if there is extra time). The player who has been substituted may not re-enter the field of play and will go to the dressing room and, if necessary, to a medical centre.

In addition, once the match is over, within 24 hours, the doctor who detected the injury must send the signed SCAT5 form (concussion evaluation) to the CONMEBOL medical committee.

How many types of cards have existed in the world of soccer?

With this new addition, referees will add a new card to the standard red and yellow we all know. However, the pink card has not been the only one to be introduced in the world of soccer, and there have been up to five different types of cards. The latest one to gradually come into operation is going to be the blue card, which sends off a player for 10 minutes for committing a serious foul or protesting to the referee.

There is also a white card that came into operation in the Portuguese women’s league, which rewarded fair play; in Spain a card of the same colour came to be used in 1971, but it worked in the same way as the current yellow card.

In Italian soccer there was also an orange card that expelled the player for a few minutes and a green card was even invented by the Andalusian Football Federation which, like the white card, rewarded fair play.