The meeting in Vancouver is considering a proposal to have yellow cards received in the group stage erased before the start of the knockout round, and it is highly likely that this decision will be adopted.
Such a change would bring great relief to national teams, as players would be at less risk of suspension in the most important part of the tournament. The previous practice was to clear cards only after the quarter-finals, which often created additional pressure and caution among players.
As the World Cup will have 48 teams and a larger number of matches for the first time, FIFA believes that this change is fairer and in line with the new competition format. The possibility of a second “reset” of the cards after the quarter-finals is also mentioned, so that the teams in the finals are complete.
The goal is to reduce the number of key player absences and increase the quality of the tournament finals, which is in the interest of both teams and fans.
