Explained: What are blue cards in football that are being considered?

Football’s law-making body International Football Association Board (IFAB) are set to trial sin-binning players and issuing blue cards. It will be a unique warning method different from the yellow and red cards that were used for the first time at the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Sin-bins have been used at grassroot levels of football for dissent but their reach could be expanded to higher levels to combat cynical fouls — like when a player takes down an opponent to stop a counterattack. As per the plan, a player would spend 10 minutes on the sidelines after being given a blue card by the referee. However, it remains unclear when the trial is set to begin and which leagues/levels will it cover. England’s Premier League, the top division, has already ruled out being part of the initial roll-out of any trial. Meanwhile football’s world governing body FIFA said “reports of the so-called ‘blue card’ at elite levels of football are incorrect and premature”.

FIFA wishes to clarify that reports of the so-called 'blue card' at elite levels of football are incorrect and premature.

Any such trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels, a position that FIFA intends to reiterate when this…

— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) February 8, 2024

The brief statement further said, “Any such trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels, a position that FIFA intends to reiterate when this agenda item is discussed at the IFAB AGM on 2 March.” IFAB is scheduled to hold its annual meeting in Scotland in March and sin-bin trials at higher levels of the game are listed as a topic for discussion. When were sin-bins introduced? Sin-bins were introduced in 2018-19, with the English Football Association reporting a 38% total reduction in dissent across 31 leagues. It was then expanded to all levels of grassroots football from the 2019-20 season with the aim of improving level of respect and inculcating fair play. The rule was then implemented up to step five of the National League system and tier three and below in women’s football.