Concacaf Defines Sanctions for Red Cards in the 2025 Gold Cup
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) has established the rules for red card suspensions in the 2025 Gold Cup. These sanctions will affect the players of the national teams of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Football players who receive a red card during the 2025 Gold Cup will have to serve a suspension in their national team’s next friendly match. This disciplinary measure will not extend to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.The decision was made after analyzing situations such as that of Jacob Shaffelburg, who received a second yellow card in the quarter-final match of the Gold Cup, where Canada was eliminated by Guatemala. Because Canada, as the host of the World Cup, will not participate in the Concacaf qualifiers, it will not have official matches until the 2026 tournament. Therefore, Shaffelburg will have to serve his suspension in the next friendly. This rule applies to all players from the host nations of the 2026 World Cup, according to article 69.3 of the FIFA disciplinary code.After extensive conversations with FIFA, Concacaf can confirm that any pending suspensions from the 2025 Gold Cup for Canada, Mexico, and the United States (co-hosts of next year’s World Cup) must be served in their next international friendly match and not during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Concacaf
Any player from Mexico or the United States who receives a red card in the semi-final or final of the 2025 Gold Cup will miss the next friendly match scheduled before the World Cup. The United States defeated Guatemala 2-1 in the first semi-final of the Gold Cup, while Mexico will face Honduras to seek a place in the final.If a host team is directly qualified for the final competition and, consequently, does not participate in the qualifying matches to access the final competition, and its next official match is in said final competition, any match suspension will be carried over to the next friendly match of the representative team.
FIFA
