What is a green card in football and what happens when a player receives one?

We all know yellow and red cards are a normal part of football, but did you know there is also a green card?

Back in January, a referee made history after he brandished a white card for the first time during Sporting Lisbon’s match against Benfica.

The white card was produced to praise fair play during matches. It was designed with the hope that it will promote ethical values in the sport.

In June 2018, the green card was used for the first time during the CONIFA World Football Cup, which is a tournament for non-FIFA affiliated international teams.

During the match, the referee stopped the match and showed a player the green card and ordered him to leave the pitch.

According to CONIFA regulations, “a player who receives a green card must leave the field of play immediately, but can be replaced if his team have not used all of their substitutes. A player receiving a green card is not excluded from his team's next match.”

The tournament’s organiser, Paul Watson spoke to Sky Sports about the use of the green card.

He said: “We'd really like to clamp down on the dissent problem. Football has a problem with the lack of respect for referees.

“That's not to say that isn't also the case in CONIFA games - the players in our tournament still have those traits.

“But it would be nice that, instead of it being ignored and therefore in a way condoned, it shouldn't necessarily cost someone their chance to play at this tournament, if they just lose their cool.”

Jens Jockel, CONIFA’s Asia President added: “We have had some minor problems in the past, with some red cards at the end of a game - mostly when teams realised they can't keep up and find themselves losing heavily with 10 minutes left.

“It's a really good idea of how to sanction things that might not be worthy of a red card. More like personal mistakes - using swear words, disrespecting spectators and coaches and so on. It's a perfect way to find something in between.”

Do you think the green card is a good idea? Let us know in the comments.