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. Players from the national teams of Canada, the United States, and Mexico who receive a red card during the tournament will have to serve a suspension in their 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 lost against Guatemala. Since Canada, as the host of the World Cup, will not participate in the Concacaf qualifiers, it has no official matches until the 2026 tournament. Therefore, Shaffelburg will be suspended for the next friendly, but will be available for Canada’s debut at the 2026 World Cup. 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 is in a position to confirm that any pending suspension from the 2025 Gold Cup for Canada, Mexico, and the United States (co-hosts of the next World Cup) must be served during their next international friendly match and not during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Concacaf Spokesperson
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 scheduled before the World Cup. In the first Gold Cup semi-final, the United States defeated Guatemala 2-1 on Wednesday. Mexico will face Honduras for a place in the final.If a host selection of a final competition does not participate in the qualifying matches to access the final phase of this competition and its next official match is in that final phase, any match suspension will be transferred to the next friendly match of the selection.
FIFA
