Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey became the first player sent off in the 2022 World Cup, as his team were eventually beaten 2-0 by Iran on Friday.
The Nottingham Forest keeper becomes the 174th player to be sent off at a World Cup, but only the third goalkeeper, joining Gialuca Pagliuca (Italy vs Norway, 1994), and Itumeleng Khune (South Africa vs Uruguay, 2010).
The first player to be sent off in a World Cup match was Peru’s Placido Galindo, against Romania in the 1930 tournament, but Carlos Caszely of Chile was the first player to actually be shown a physical red card when he was sent off against West Germany in 1974.
Here is everything you need to know about red cards at the World Cup…
Players with the most red cards
Throughout the competition, no player has ever been sent off multiple times in one tournament. However, since 1930, two players have been sent off more than once across multiple competitions. Rigobert Song, the current manager of Cameroon, has been sent off twice in the competition (against Brazil in 1994 and Chile in 1998), as has French icon Zinedine Zidane, who was sent off in the 2006 final against Italy, and less famously against Saudi Arabia in 1998.
Teams with the most red cards
Throughout the history of the World Cup, 64 nations have seen a player sent off. The countries with the most red cards in the competition are Brazil (11), Argentina (10), Uruguay (nine), Italy (eight) and Cameroon (eight).
Despite leading the way when it comes to the number of dismissals, Brazil have not picked up any red cards in the last two tournaments.
World Cup dismissals since 1930
| Rank | Country | Sendings off |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Brazil |
11 |
|
2 |
Argentina |
10 |
|
3 |
Uruguay |
9 |
|
4= |
Cameroon |
8 |
|
4= |
Italy |
8 |
|
6 |
Netherlands |
7 |
|
7= |
Mexico |
6 |
|
7= |
France |
6 |
|
7= |
Portugal |
6 |
|
10= |
Germany |
5 |
|
Hungary |
5 |
Referees who have shown the most red cards
Despite only officiating seven World Cup games across three tournaments, Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez issued five World Cup red cards, including two in one game during the 2006 group stage match between Serbia & Montenegro and Ivory Coast (Serbia’s Albert Nad and Ivory Coast’s Cyril Domoraud). French official Joel Quiniou has issued five red cards across his World Cup career, having refereed eight games. That included sending off Uruguay’s Jose Batista in the first minute of their 1986 match against Scotland for a robust challenge of Gordon Strachan.
However, it is Mexico’s Arturo Brizio Carter who holds not only the record for the most red cards shown at World Cups (seven), but also for having shown red cards in the most matches (five).
Brizio Carter’s World Cup red cards
| Tournament | Player | Team | Opponent | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1994 |
Gianfranco Zola |
Italy |
Nigeria |
Last 16 |
|
1994 |
Rigobert Song |
Cameroon |
Brazil |
Group |
|
1994 |
Marco Etcheverry |
Bolivia |
Germany |
Group |
|
1998 |
Ariel Ortega |
Argentina |
Netherlands |
Quarters |
|
1998 |
Arthur Numan |
Netherlands |
Netherlands |
Quarters |
|
1998 |
Zinedine Zidane |
France |
Saudi Arabia |
Group |
|
1998 |
Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi |
Saudi Arabia |
France |
Group |
Red cards in World Cup finals
Across the history of the competition, there have been five red cards in finals, including in 2006 when Zinedine Zidane capped off his professional career by headbutting Marco Materazzi and being sent off in the 110th minute of his last-ever game. Other final dismissals include Dutchman John Heitinga’s against Spain in 2010, Marcel Desailly (France vs Brazil) in 1998, and the double sending-off of Argentina’s Pedro Monzon and Gustavo Dezotti against West Germany in 1990.
Of the infamous five, only Desailly ended the day with a winner’s medal. France had led 2-0 when he was sent off in the 68th minute and ended up winning 3-0.
Marcel Desailly is sent off during the 1998 World Cup final (Photo: Getty)
Tournaments with the most red cards
Germany, 2006 (28)
In a way, Zidane’s headbutt was a fitting end to a tournament that was plagued with indiscipline. This competition saw 21 teams pick up at least one red card, with two matches seeing three red cards, and one seeing four.
That quartet of dismissals came during the now infamous Portugal vs Netherlands round-of-16 tie that saw two players sent off from each team (Deco and Costinha for Portugal, Khalid Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst for the Netherlands). Games between Croatia and Australia, and Italy and the USA both saw three red cards.
One of England’s most infamous red cards came in the quarter-finals when a young Wayne Rooney was dismissed for stamping on Portugal’s Ricardo Carvalho. The referee who showed him the red card — Horacio Elizondo of Argentina — also later sent off Zidane in the final.
As if that wasn’t enough madness for one year, English referee Graham Poll also made headlines for issuing three yellow cards to Croatia’s Josip Simunic in the aforementioned match against Australia. Poll failed to realise he had already booked Simunic when he showed him his second yellow card, then booked him a third time a few minutes later and finally showed the red.
France, 1998 (22)
This competition saw 22 red cards shown across 15 teams, with Cameroon and eventual winners France both picking up the most (three). There were three red cards shown in a game once, and two red cards shown in a game four times, the highest across all competitions to date.
The game that saw the most red cards was Denmark’s 1-1 draw with South Africa, where Miklos Molnar and Morten Wieghorst of Denmark, and South Africa’s Alfred Phiri were all sent off by referee John Toro Rendon of Colombia.
The most famous red card in the tournament was probably David Beckham’s in England’s last-16 defeat to Argentina. The Manchester United midfielder saw red for kicking out at Argentina’s Diego Simeone and was made a scapegoat for the defeat by sections of the English press.
South Korea & Japan, 2002 (17)
In 2002, Portugal and Paraguay were the leading offenders with two red cards apiece, with Mexican official Felipe Ramos Rizo making his presence known by issuing four red cards in just three matches. Four referees sent off more than one player in a game during the tournament. That included two for Portugal (Joao Pinto and Beto) in their controversial group stage defeat to co-hosts South Korea.
South Africa, 2010 (17)
The first tournament to take place in Africa saw 17 red cards issued across 13 teams, with Algeria, Australia, Brazil, and Uruguay having two red cards apiece.
The most famous was Luis Suarez’s against Ghana, a goal-line handball which denied Ghana what would surely have been a winner in added time at the end of extra time. Ghana missed the resulting penalty and then lost in the shootout, securing Suarez’s status as one of the most hated men in Ghana.
(Top photo: Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)
Source link: https://theathletic.com/3914522/2022/11/25/world-cup-red-card-history/
