With the World Cup 2026 semi-finals on the horizon, supporters of England, France, Spain, and Argentina can breathe easy — no player from any of the four remaining nations currently carries a yellow card into the last four.

FIFA's yellow card amnesty rules mean any player booked during the semi-finals will still be eligible to appear in the final at New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday. Only a sending-off — whether for two yellow cards or a straight red — would trigger an automatic suspension for the showpiece match.

How the amnesty works

World Cup 2026 marks the first major FIFA tournament to apply a yellow card amnesty twice. Accumulated bookings were wiped at the end of the group stage and again after the quarter-finals. In practice, players needed to avoid collecting two yellows in any three-match stretch — across two separate windows — to stay clear of a suspension from accumulated cautions.

The expanded format of World Cup 2026, which features 48 teams and an additional round of 32, means the nations reaching the semi-finals will have played eight matches. Without the double amnesty, that volume of games would have made suspension-by-accumulation a far greater risk.

Players whose cards have been wiped

Across the four semi-finalists, 15 players had their yellow cards cleared ahead of this stage. For England, Jude Bellingham was booked in the round of 32, while Marc Guehi, Nico O'Reilly, and Declan Rice all picked up cautions against Mexico. Jordan Henderson also received a booking during that fixture despite not taking to the pitch.

France saw Manu Kone, Michael Olise, and Bradley Barcola cautioned in the round of 16. Spain's Ferran Torres was booked in the same round, with Pau Cubarsi and Aymeric Laporte adding yellow cards in the quarter-finals. Argentina's Lautaro Martinez, Thiago Almada, and Manuel Lopez were also booked at the quarter-final stage, alongside Gonzalo Montiel, who had been cautioned earlier in the round of 32.

The ghost of Gazza

The image of Paul Gascoigne in tears after receiving a booking against West Germany at World Cup 1990 remains one of English football's most enduring moments. Gascoigne knew that caution would have ruled him out of the final in Rome — a suspension that proved academic when England were eliminated in the semi-finals, but which lost none of its emotional weight.

FIFA's amnesty system ensures today's players are spared that particular anguish — provided they avoid a red card when the last four take to the field.