These are the statistics for the UEFA Euro 2012, which took place in Poland and Ukraine.
Sources: Opta Sports,[1] UEFA[2]
Sanctions against foul play at Euro 2012 were in the first instance the responsibility of the referee, but when if he deemed it necessary to give a caution, or dismiss a player, UEFA kept a record and may have enforced a suspension. UEFA's disciplinary committee had the ability to penalize players for offenses unpunished by the referee.
A player receiving a red card was automatically suspended for the next match. A longer suspension was possible if the UEFA disciplinary committee had judged the offence as warranting it. In keeping with the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) and UEFA Disciplinary Regulations (UDR), UEFA did not allow for appeals of red cards except in the case of mistaken identity. The FDC further stipulated that if a player was sent off during his team's final Euro 2012 match, the suspension would carry over to his team's next competitive international(s), which in this case would be the qualification matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[3]
Any player who was suspended due to a red card that was earned in Euro 2012 qualifying was required to serve the balance of any suspension unserved by the end of qualifying either in the Euro 2012 finals (for any player on a team that qualified, whether he was selected to the final squad or not) or in World Cup qualifying (for players on teams that did not qualify).
Any player receiving a single yellow card during two of the three group stage matches and the quarter-final match was suspended for the following match. A single yellow card did not carry over to the semi-finals. This meant that no player could have been suspended for final unless he was sent off in semi-final or he was serving a longer suspension for an earlier incident. Suspensions due to yellow cards did carry over to the World Cup qualifiers.[4] [5] Yellow cards and any related suspensions earned in the Euro 2012 qualifiers were neither counted nor enforced in the final tournament.[6]
In the event a player was sent off for two bookable offenses, only the red card was counted for disciplinary purposes. However, in the event a player received a direct red card after being booked in the same match, then both cards would have been counted. If the player was already facing a suspension for two tournament bookings when he was sent off, this would have resulted in separate suspensions that would have been served consecutively. The one match ban for the yellow cards would be served first unless the player's team was eliminated in the match in which he was sent off. If the player's team was eliminated in the match in which he was serving his ban for the yellow cards, then the ban for the sending off would have been carried over to the World Cup qualifiers.
For serious transgressions, a longer suspension may have been handed down at the discretion of the UEFA disciplinary committee. The disciplinary committee was also charged with reviewing any incidents that were missed by the officials and could have awarded administrative red cards and suspensions accordingly. However, just as appeals of red cards were not considered, the disciplinary committee was also not allowed to review transgressions that were already punished by the referee with something less than a red card. For example, if a player was booked but not sent off for a dangerous tackle, the disciplinary committee could not subsequently deem the challenge to be violent conduct and then upgrade the card to a red. However, if the same player then spat at the opponent but was still not sent off, then the referee's report would have been unlikely to mention this automatic red card offense. Video evidence of the spitting incident could then be independently reviewed.
Unlike the rules in many domestic competitions, there is no particular category of red card offense that automatically results in a multi-game suspension. In general however, extended bans were only assessed for red cards given for serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting or perhaps foul and abusive language. Also, unlike many sets of domestic rules second and subsequent red cards also did not automatically incur an extended ban, although a player's past disciplinary record (including prior competition) might have been considered by the disciplinary committee when punishing him. As a rule, only automatic red card offenses were considered for longer bans. A player who was sent off for picking up two yellow cards in the same match would not have had his automatic one-match ban extended by UEFA on account of what he did to get the second booking, because the referee deemed him as not to have committed an automatic red card offense.
If UEFA suspended a player after his team's elimination from the tournament, or for more games than the team ended up playing without him prior to the final or their elimination (whichever came first), then the remaining suspension was to be served during 2014 World Cup qualifying. For a particularly grave offense UEFA had the power to impose a lengthy ban against the offender.
Three red cards were shown over the course of the tournament's thirty one matches, an average of 0.10 red cards per match.
Source: UEFA[7]
123 yellow cards were shown over the course of the tournament's thirty one matches, an average of 3.97 yellow cards per match.
| Referee | Matches | Red | Yellow | Red Cards | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cüneyt Çakır | 3 | 1 | 18 | 1 second yellow | |
| Stéphane Lannoy | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
| Pedro Proença | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| Viktor Kassai | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| Craig Thomson | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| Wolfgang Stark | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| Damir Skomina | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Jonas Eriksson | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Nicola Rizzoli | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| Björn Kuipers | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| Howard Webb | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 straight red 1 second yellow |
| Team | Matches | Red | Yellow | Red Cards | Suspensions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 0 | 9 | ||||
| 4 | 0 | 7 | ||||
| 3 | 0 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | 0 | 5 | W. Rooney v France & Sweden (due to red card in final qualifying match) | |||
| 4 | 0 | 6 | P. Mexès v Spain | |||
| 5 | 0 | 4 | J. Boateng v Denmark | |||
| 4 | 1 | 11 | S. Papastathopoulos v Poland second booking | S. Papastathopoulos v Czech Republic J. Holebas & G. Karagounis v Germany | ||
| 3 | 1 | 8 | K. Andrews v Italy second booking | |||
| 6 | 0 | 16 | C. Maggio v Germany | |||
| 3 | 0 | 5 | ||||
| 3 | 1 | 7 | W. Szczęsny v Greece professional foul | W. Szczęsny v Russia | ||
| 5 | 0 | 12 | ||||
| 3 | 0 | 6 | ||||
| 6 | 0 | 11 | ||||
| 3 | 0 | 7 | ||||
| 3 | 0 | 5 |
| Penalised party | width=225 | Sanction ! | Reason | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €25,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Ireland[8] | ||
| €80,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Italy[9] | ||
| €30,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Spain[10] | ||
| The Football Association (England) | €5,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Sweden[11] | |
| €120,000 + 6 point deduction in Euro 2016 qualifiers (suspended) | Supporters' behaviour | vs Czech Republic[12] | ||
| €30,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Poland[13] | ||
| €35,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Greece[14] | ||
| €30,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Czech Republic[15] | ||
| €10,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Portugal[16] | ||
| €25,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Denmark[17] | ||
| Nicklas Bendtner (Denmark) | €100,000 + one match ban in 2014 World Cup qualifiers | Improper conduct | vs Portugal[18] | |
| €5,000 | Players' behaviour | vs Germany | ||
| €7,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Czech Republic | ||
| €20,000 | Supporters' behaviour | vs Italy |