In the UEFA Champions League, a player is handed a one-match ban upon collecting four yellow cards. That threshold applies from the start of the league phase all the way through to the end of the quarter-finals.

Once the semi-finals arrive, the slate is wiped clean — yellow card tallies are reset and no player can be suspended on the basis of accumulated cautions from earlier rounds.

What happens after four yellow cards?

The suspensions do not stop at four. A player who reaches six, eight, or 10 yellow cards will each time trigger an additional one-match ban. In short, every even number above four carries the same penalty.

The same rules govern UEFA's two other club competitions: the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League.

Players to watch this week

Five players entered the third round of matches already carrying two yellow cards, placing them two cautions away from an automatic suspension. Those players are Armando Obispo (PSV Eindhoven), Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan), Jan Virgili (Club Brugge), Marlon Gomes (Shakhtar Donetsk), and Serginio Dest (PSV Eindhoven).

With the league phase still in its early stages, any of those five could find themselves watching a match from the stands if they are not careful in the coming rounds.