Section 7: Violations & Penalties
Cautions (Yellow Cards)
The IFAB list of cautionable offenses applies, including unsporting behavior, dissent by word or action, persistent infringement of the Laws, delaying the restart of play, failure to respect the required distance at restarts, entering or re-entering the field without permission, and deliberately leaving the field without permission. Two yellow cards in the same match results in a sending-off (red card by accumulation).
Sending-Offs (Red Cards)
The IFAB list of sending-off offenses applies: serious foul play; violent conduct; spitting at a person; denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by handball; denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity by a foul (DOGSO); using offensive, insulting, or abusive language or gestures; receiving a second caution in the same match. A player sent off cannot be replaced; the team plays short for the remainder of the match.
"Only The Captain" Rule (2026)
To curb mass refereeing-protest incidents, the 2026 NWSL season operationalizes the IFAB-trial "Only The Captain" referee-protection mechanism. When the referee gestures an "X" with the arms above the head and steps back approximately four meters, only the team's designated captain may approach the referee to discuss the stoppage decision. Any non-captain who enters the four-meter zone is shown a yellow card for dissent. If the captain is the goalkeeper at the moment of the incident, the team's outfield captain (designated pre-match) may approach the referee instead.
Goalkeeper Tactical Timeout Crackdown (2026)
To address the global trend of teams using goalkeeper "injuries" as tactical timeouts, the 2026 NWSL rules require that on any goalkeeper injury, players must congregate by the centre circle rather than approaching the team technical area. Players who approach the technical area during a goalkeeper-injury stoppage are subject to discipline. If the goalkeeper is substituted as a result of the injury, players may approach the technical area to restore the substitution channel.
Direct Free Kicks, Indirect Free Kicks, and Penalty Kicks
The IFAB Law 12 distinctions apply: ten specific offenses (kicking, tripping, jumping at, charging, striking, pushing, tackling, holding, impeding with contact, and biting/spitting) restart with a direct free kick (or a penalty kick if committed by the defending team in their own penalty area). Indirect free kicks are awarded for technical offenses such as offside, dangerous play without contact, and goalkeeper handling violations.
Suspensions
- Yellow-card accumulation thresholds in the regular season trigger automatic one-match suspensions
- Straight red cards trigger a minimum one-match suspension (with longer terms for serious foul play, violent conduct, or DOGSO at the discretion of the league disciplinary committee)
- The NWSL Disciplinary Committee may impose supplemental discipline for incidents that the on-field officials did not observe or did not punish at the standard the league deems appropriate, consistent with IFAB allowance for league post-match review
- Yellow-card accumulation totals reset between the regular season and the postseason; thereafter the playoff yellow-accumulation threshold operates independently