Yellow cards and suspensions: how many mean a ban in 2026/27

A yellow card is a warning. Collect enough of them and it becomes a ban, but how many is enough depends on where you play: five in the biggest European leagues, four in Russia, three in Brazil, and the Champions League changed its own count this season. When the count goes back to zero differs too, and that matters almost as much as the number.

Below is each rule for 2026/27 as the league or federation publishes it; for Brazil, whose season follows the calendar year, the rule for 2026.

What do the laws of the game say about yellow cards?

The Laws of the Game, written by IFAB, stop at the card. A yellow is a caution, and a second caution in the same match is a sending-off offence, which is why a second yellow is followed by a red. A straight red is a separate sanction, for serious foul play, violent conduct or denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, among others, and needs no yellow before it.

What the Laws do not contain is a suspension. How many cautions add up to a ban, and how many matches a red card costs, are decided by each competition and its disciplinary body. That is why a player can be one booking from a ban in the league and nowhere near one in a cup.

How many yellow cards until a suspension?

Competition	First ban	After that	What counts	Count wiped
Premier League	5 by the club's 19th match: 1 match	10 by the 32nd: 2 matches; 15: 3 matches	League only	End of season
LaLiga	5: 1 match	Every further 5: 1 match	League only	End of season
Bundesliga	5: 1 match	Every further 5: 1 match	League only	End of season
Serie A	5: 1 match	10th, 14th, 17th, 19th, then every yellow: 1 match	League only	End of season
Ligue 1	5: 1 match	"5 yellows = 1 match"	Ligue 1 and the French cups together	End of season
Brasileirão	3: 1 match	Every further 3: 1 match	Série A only	End of the competition
Russian Premier League	4: 1 match	Every further 4: 1 match	League only	End of season
Champions League	4: 1 match	6th, 8th and every even number: 1 match	Champions League only	After the quarter-finals

How many yellow cards until a suspension in the Premier League?

Five, but only if they come early enough. In the Premier League a player who reaches five yellow cards by his club's 19th league match is banned for one match. Reach 10 by the 32nd match and the ban is two matches; 15 at any point means three, and 20 sends the case to a regulatory commission. A fifth caution in the 20th match or later brings no ban at all, so the dates matter as much as the count. The ban starts seven days after the caution that triggered it, and each cup keeps its own count.

How many yellow cards for a ban in LaLiga, the Bundesliga and Serie A?

All three start at five, and then go separate ways.

In LaLiga it is the yellow-card cycle: five cautions in the same season and competition bring a one-match ban, and the cycle starts again.

The Bundesliga spells it out: after the fifth yellow a player misses the next league match, and once that ban is served, five more cautions in the same season bring another.

Serie A gets stricter as the season goes on. After the first ban at five, the next comes after five more yellows, then after four, three and two, and after that every single yellow means a one-match ban. Counted from the start, that is the 5th, 10th, 14th, 17th and 19th caution, then each one. A player one caution from a ban is diffidato, under warning.

How many yellow cards until a ban in Ligue 1?

Five, since 2025/26. Until then Ligue 1 banned a player for three yellows within 10 official matches; the league dropped the window and now puts it simply as five yellow cards for one match. France is also the exception on what counts: yellows in Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the Trophée des Champions are added together.

How many yellow cards until a suspension in Brazil and Russia?

Fewer. In the Brasileirão every series of three yellow cards rules a player out of his club's next match in the same competition. A player one card away is pendurado, hanging. If a player's third yellow is followed by a straight red in the same match, he serves two automatic bans, one for each. And a suspended player away with a national team serves his ban in the club matches he misses.

The Russian Premier League bans a player for the next match after every four yellow cards in different matches. The Russian Cup keeps its own, shorter count: two yellows mean a ban.

Does a yellow card count if the player is then sent off?

Not if it was half of a second-yellow dismissal: in Russia and Brazil those two cautions count as the sending-off and stay off the running total, while a yellow followed by a straight red stays on it. Germany goes further. In any match in which a player is sent off, the yellow he received in that match counts as used up and is not registered.

How many yellow cards until a ban in the Champions League?

Four, from this season. Until 2025/26 a player was suspended after his third yellow card; for 2026/27 UEFA raised it to four, then every even-numbered caution, the sixth, the eighth and so on. The Europa League and the Conference League follow the same rules.

The Champions League wipes the slate twice. Yellows from the qualifying rounds are cancelled at the start of the league phase, and all yellow cards expire when the quarter-finals are completed. UEFA's own answer is that a player booked in both legs of a semi-final their side wins is not suspended for the final. Two exceptions remain: a ban already earned before the quarter-finals ended still has to be served, and a third yellow during a semi-final penalty shoot-out can rule a player out of the final.

Do yellow cards reset?

Yes, at the end of the season: none of these competitions carries a caution into the next one. Some reset sooner, or in parts:

• Premier League: the cut-offs work like a reset. A fifth yellow after the 19th match brings no ban, nor does a 10th after the 32nd.
• Champions League: at the start of the league phase and after the quarter-finals.
• Serie A: cautions also lapse when a player moves to a club in a different league during the season.
• Brasileirão: a player who joins another club in the same competition takes his cards and pending bans with him.

In LaLiga and the Bundesliga the count simply runs from the first matchday to the last.

How long is a ban for a red card?

That is the disciplinary body's decision. England is the clearest case, with a fixed scale: one match for a second caution or for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, two for offensive, insulting or abusive language, three for serious foul play or violent conduct, six for spitting. A second dismissal in a season adds a match, a third adds two.

Elsewhere the length is set case by case, by the RFEF's disciplinary committee in Spain, the DFB's sports court in Germany, the STJD in Brazil, the RFS control and disciplinary committee in Russia, and so on. In Italy, Brazil, Russia and UEFA's competitions a player who is sent off misses at least the next match automatically. In Germany a straight red keeps him out until the sports court has ruled.

Sources: IFAB Laws of the Game 2026/27, Law 12, The FA, Essential Information for Players 2026/27, RFEF Bases de Competición 2026/27, Article 34, RFEF Comité de Disciplina, Primera División matchday 3, DFL Spielordnung, § 15, FIGC Codice di Giustizia Sportiva, Articles 9 and 19, LFP on the five-yellow rule, LFP disciplinary commission, 23 September 2026, CBF Manual de Competições 2026, RFS Disciplinary Regulations, Articles 15 and 16, UEFA on yellow and red cards in 2026/27, UEFA Champions League regulations 2026/27, Article 63.