England's World Cup Final Tournament
Player Disciplinary Records

 

England's World Cup Final Tournament Player Records
Players by Name			Players by Number of Appearances
Players Appearing at Most Tournaments			Captains
Goalscorers by Name			Goalscorers by Number of Goals
Player Disciplinary Records			Goalkeepers
World Cup Index			Player Record Performances
England's World Cup Final Tournament Squads
1950	1954	1958	1962	1966	1970
1982	1986	1990	1998	2002	2006

Notes

The records do not show any England player receiving a booking in World Cup finals play before the 1966 tournament.  In the seven final tournaments England reached between 1966 and 2002, 26 players were subjected to disciplinary measures.  Four of these were disciplined at two tournaments, Terry Butcher and Ray Wilkins at the 1982 and 1986 tournaments and Sol Campbell and Paul Scholes at the 1998 and 2002 finals. 

Two players received a red card expulsion, Ray Wilkins for a second cautionable offence in the group match against Morocco at the 1986 tournament in Mexico and David Beckham for violent conduct in the round of 16 teams match against Argentina at the 1998 tournament in France.

Disciplinary records in World Cup finals play before the 1970 tournament in Mexico may not be entirely reliable.  Not until the 1970 tournament was the highly visible method of denoting cautions and expulsions by displaying yellow and red cards established.  Before then, expulsions were discernible because a player left the pitch, but cautions were merely noted in the referee's notebook and were not always publicly known.  

It was uncertainty about the bookings given the Charlton brothers, Bobby and Jackie, in the quarterfinal match against Argentina at Wembley Stadium in 1966 that led the late English referee Ken Aston to develop the red and yellow cards system.  Jackie had been involved in a pushing and shoving affair with Argentine players and brother Bobby sought to intervene, apparently as a peacemaker.  Contemporaneous newspaper accounts reported that both had been booked, but the West German referee had not given any public indication that this was the case.  Manager Alf Ramsey had to ask FIFA for clarification, and FIFA confirmed the bookings.  The confusion set Aston to thinking about the problem, and while noticing a traffic light changing colours, he came up with the idea of displaying yellow and red cards to make cautions as well as expulsions plain to all.

To this day, the official match summary appearing on the FIFA website contains no mention that the Charltons were booked, although it does list the caution and expulsion of Argentine captain Antonio Rattin.  When England met Argentina at the 1998 final tournament, FIFA revealed that an examination of its records, conducted the year previously at Bobby Charlton's request, showed that both Charltons had been cautioned in the 1966 match, Jackie apparently for his involvement in the goalmouth pushing and Bobby for dissent.  The caution was the only one Bobby Charlton received in his 106-match England career.  The entire episode serves as a warning that records of player discipline prior to the advent of yellow and red cards may not be complete.

Three England players have served suspensions from World Cup finals play.  The first was midfielder Ray Wilkins, who drew a two-match suspension after he was shown the red card for a second cautionable offence in England's goalless draw with Morocco at the 1986 tournament in Mexico.  Wilkins, who had already drawn a caution for a tussle with a Moroccan player, had taken over the captain's armband when injury forced Bryan Robson to leave the match.  Minutes later, when he was ruled offside, he tossed the ball at the ground in disgust at the failure to call a foul and it hit the referee on the bounce.  FIFA increased the usual one-match suspension for a red card to two matches because it deemed the offence which led to Wilkins' second caution to involve abuse of the referee.  Wilkins missed the next two matches against Poland and Paraguay through suspension, and manager Bobby Robson did not call on him for England's last match of the tournament against Argentina, although he was one of the five substitutes on the bench.  Wilkins, elevated to England captain one moment, thus ended his World Cup career in disgrace the next, the first England player ever sent off in World Cup finals play and only the fourth sent off in any match.

In the same tournament, central defender Terry Fenwick drew cautions for fouls in England's first and third matches in group play, against Portugal and Poland, and was suspended for the next match against Paraguay in the round of 16 teams.  Fenwick returned against Argentina and drew yet another yellow card for a foul.  That that was England's last match of the tournament probably saved Fenwick from further distinguishing himself.

Paul Gascoigne earned a one-match suspension in the 1990 tournament in Italy after drawing cautions against Belgium in the round of 16 teams and against West Germany in the semifinal.  After the second yellow card, Gascoigne, in an unforgettably poignant scene televised around the world, shed tears as it dawned on him he would not play in the final match were England to win the semifinal.  As it turned out, the suspension forced him to miss the third-place match against host Italy instead.

Two England players were saved from serving suspensions from World Cup finals play because the offences warranting the suspension came in England's last match of the tournament.  Francis Lee drew a caution against Brazil in group play and a second against West Germany in the quarterfinals at the 1970 tournament in Mexico and would have been suspended from the semifinal, but West Germany's 3-2 extra-time victory sent England home.  David Beckham's red card early in the second half against Argentina at the 1998 tournament in France would have earned him a suspension from the quarterfinal, but Argentina eliminated England on penalty kicks after an extra-time 2-2 draw.

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