Are yellow cards carried over between matches at the World Cup?

FIFA carries forward yellow cards through the knockout stage. A first booking stays on a player's record for the rest of the group stage, and the Round of 32, and the Round of 16. A second booking in any of those matches triggers a one-match suspension.

After the quarter-finals are complete, all yellow cards are wiped clean. This avoids what happened to several players in past tournaments — booked in the quarters, banned from the semis on a technicality, even though their previous booking might have been weeks earlier.

Red cards (direct red or two yellows in the same match) trigger an automatic next-match suspension regardless of stage, plus a FIFA disciplinary committee review which can extend the ban based on the severity of the offence.

Coaches plan around this carefully. Star players already on a yellow are sometimes substituted earlier in tight matches, or pulled from must-not-lose group games entirely — Argentina notably benched players for this reason during the 2022 run.