Fan's Guide to A-League Men Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27

• Two yellows in one match: the player is sent off with an indirect red card and serves a one-match suspension. The two yellow cards do not count towards yellow card accumulation.
• A yellow, then a direct red in the same match: the yellow card does count towards accumulation. If that yellow means the player must also serve an accumulation suspension, the accumulation suspension and the direct red card suspension are served one after the other, not at the same time.

Team officials follow the same approach for their own yellow and red cards.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 5.4, 5.5, 6.3, 7.4 and 7.5.

Indirect red card (a second yellow in the same match): a mandatory one-match suspension, served in the club's next A-Leagues match or Australia Cup match, whichever comes first.

Direct red card: the mandatory suspension depends on how many direct reds the player has accumulated in the regular season or finals series:

This is the minimum. The Match Review Panel or Disciplinary and Ethics Committee can add further matches for the offence under the Table of Offences. For example, assault of a match official carries a minimum of six months. Team officials (such as coaches) have the same direct red card scale.

Direct red card offences include serious foul play, violent conduct, biting or spitting, denying a goal or obvious goal-scoring opportunity, and offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 6.2 to 6.5, 8.3 to 8.5 and Schedule 3.

Yes, through an Obvious Error (Red Card) Application, made by the player or team official who was sent off for a direct red card.

• Form and deadline: Prescribed Form DR01, submitted to Football Australia by 11:00am Sydney time on the day after the match.
• Fee: $500, refunded if the application is allowed.
• Evidence: the Match Review Panel considers only broadcast footage, match official reports, any verified technical venue footage and the written submissions.
• Decision: to allow it, the Panel's decision must be unanimous. If allowed, the mandatory suspension is not served and the red card is wiped from the record and does not count towards accumulation. If the Panel decides a yellow card was warranted, that yellow is added and does count towards accumulation.
• If rejected: the mandatory suspension must be served and there is no appeal. If the Panel considers the application frivolous, it must add a further one-match suspension.

A player who believes a yellow card was wrongly given because of another participant's simulation can make a separate Obvious Error (Yellow Card Simulation) Application on the same form, deadline and $500 fee.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 11.5 to 11.19.

A three-member Match Review Panel (including at least one former national referee and one former professional player) reviews broadcast footage and match official reports after each round, typically on the Monday afternoon.

• Citation Incidents: the Panel can identify incidents that, under Law 12, should have been a direct red card but escaped the referee's attention (and the VAR's), and incidents of simulation the referee did not detect. It can do the same for team officials. Its decision that an incident escaped the referee's attention is final.
• Sanctions: the Panel applies the Table of Offences to propose a sanction. Where it proposes up to four matches (including the mandatory suspension), the participant is sent a Disciplinary Notice and can accept it or refer it to the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee. If they do not respond by the deadline, the proposed sanction is deemed accepted.
• Hearing: the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee has three people, including a Chair and at least one former professional player.
• Limits: the maximum sanction for an offence is a 24-month suspension, except assault of a match official, where it is a suspension for life.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 4.2, 4.7, 11.1, 11.2, 11.23, 11.24 and Schedule 3.

• Next match: a suspension is served in the club's next A-Leagues match or Australia Cup match, whichever comes first.
• Carries over: suspensions carry over from one round to the next, from the regular season to the finals series, from one season to the next regular season, and from the A-League Men to the Australia Cup.
• Only matches played count: if a match is abandoned after it starts, cancelled or forfeited, the suspension counts as served only if the player's club was not responsible for what led to it.
• National team duty: A-Leagues or Australia Cup matches missed because of national team duty do not count as matches served.
• Fines: a participant cannot play in an A-Leagues or Australia Cup match until a fine is paid in full, so a suspension combined with a fine is prolonged until the fine is paid. Fines must be paid within 14 days unless Football Australia agrees otherwise.
• Abandoned-match cards: yellow cards from a match abandoned after it starts are annulled if the match is replayed and stand if it is not. A direct red card stands either way.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 14.5, 14.6, 15.10, 15.19, 15.23 and 17.

Sent-off player: must go straight to the club's dressing room, must not enter the field, its surrounds or the Technical Area for the rest of the match, and must stay in the dressing room (or a secure area in the venue, if the venue provides one). For one hour after the match the player must not speak to the broadcaster or other media for broadcast, including post-match press conferences and TV or radio interviews.

Sent-off team official (for example a coach): if the venue allows, is escorted to a secure area such as a coach's box to watch the rest of the match, and cannot enter the field, its surrounds, the Technical Area or dressing rooms. The same one-hour media ban applies. A club doctor or physio who is sent off may stay in the Technical Area if the club has no other medical person available.

Suspended participant: on the day of the match cannot enter the field, Technical Area, player race, dressing rooms or other areas where participants assemble, cannot sit in a venue area reserved for participants, and cannot speak to broadcast media from two hours before kick-off until one hour after the match.

Exception: after a match with a post-match presentation, such as the championship trophy presentation, a sent-off or suspended participant may go onto the field to take part, unless Football Australia decides otherwise.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 6.7, 8.7, 8.8, 15.2 and 15.3.

A club commits Team Misconduct when, in an A-Leagues match:

• five (5) of its participants are cautioned or sent off;
• three (3) of its participants are sent off;
• its participants collectively show dissent towards a match official, or collectively try to intimidate, threaten or pressure a match official to make or alter a decision; or
• its participants engage in a melee or brawl.

A player who gets a second yellow and an indirect red counts only as the red for this purpose.

Unless Football Australia decides otherwise, a club that reaches the five-cautioned-or-sent-off or three-sent-off thresholds in a season is fined: $500 for the 1st to 4th occasions, $1,000 for the 5th and 6th, $1,500 for the 7th, and a sanction set by Football Australia from the 8th. These fines are suspended until the end of the season and become payable only if the club is found guilty of a further breach of those two thresholds.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 10 and 14.9 to 14.11.

A participant has a right to appeal any Determination of the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee. A club can also appeal a sanction Football Australia imposes for Team Misconduct.

• Notice: the appellant must tell Football Australia within seven (7) days of receiving the written Determination or notice, using Prescribed Form DR02.
• Fee: an appeal fee of $2,500 must be paid. No hearing is convened until the fee is received. A fully successful appellant is refunded.
• Grounds: the person was not given a reasonable opportunity to be heard; the Determination was affected by bias; or the decision was not reasonably open on the evidence.
• Appeal Committee: three people, including a Chair and at least one former professional player. It can dismiss, allow or vary the decision (reduce or increase), or substitute its own sanction.
• Final: the Appeal Committee's decision is final and binding, with no recourse to courts.

Source: A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations 2026/27 Season, clauses 4.9 to 4.11, 23 and 24.