Every player at risk of suspension in the World Cup quarter-finals

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FT Desk

We are into the business end of the 2026 World Cup, with the four quarter-final matches set to commence today and take place over the next few days.

Those quarter finals are:

France v Morocco (Boston Stadium)

Spain v Belgium (Los Angeles Stadium)

Norway v England (Miami Stadium)

Argentina v Switzerland (Kansas City Stadium)

Due to the 2026 World Cup having an extra round after the expansion to 28 teams, yellow cards picked up in the group stage were wiped before the Round of 32. Bookings picked up since then could still have an impact on the rest of the tournament which means that there are several high-profile stars at risk of missing the World Cup semi-final, should they see yellow and also progress to the last four.

Bookings will also be wiped after the quarter-final stage.

Let's take it team by team.

France

After the Folarin Balogun fiasco which saw FIFA overturn the suspension of the United States striker, it is open season on teams appealing to have other players get cards overturned.

France tried it with Michael Olise after his harsh booking against Paraguay, but the appeal was quickly thrown out by FIFA. That means the Bayern Munich superstar is at risk of missing the semi-final, should France progress.

Bradley Barcola and Manu Kone were also booked against Paraguay and are at risk.

Morocco

Morocco progressed to the quarter-final stage after a 3-0 victory against Canada but it proved to be a bit of a battle as no less than eight bookings were shown by the referee in that fixture.

Four of them were given to Moroccans - captain Achraf Hakimi, Redouane Halhal, Azzedine Ounahi and Bilal El Khannous.

Issa Diop makes it five after his yellow against the Netherlands in the Round of 32.

Spain

The only Spanish player who will need to be careful is Ferran Torres after he collected a very late booking in the 1-0 Round of 16 victory against Portugal.

Belgium

The Belgians were fired up by the Balogun controversy and ended up demolishing the Americans 4-1 to progress and what made things that little sweeter was picking up no bookings so only Brandon Mechele could be suspended following his yellow in the Round of 32 versus Senegal.

Norway

Norway pulled off one of the results of the tournament when they beat Brazil 2-1 thanks to two goals from Erling Haaland, and they didn't collect any bookings in that game either.

However, winger Antonio Nusa still needs to be careful after his yellow against Côte d'Ivoire.

England

Unfortunately for England, they probably have the biggest star names that are impacted by the rules as Declan Rice, Marc Guehi and Nico O'Reilly are all at risk of a semi-final suspension after they all saw yellow in the huge 3-2 win against Mexico.

Jude Bellingham wasn't booked in that one, but he was against DR Congo the previous round so is also walking a disciplinary tightrope.

Jarell Quansah is already suspended for the quarter-final against Norway as he was sent off versus Mexico.

Argentina

Argentina pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the World Cup this week when they overcame a two-goal deficit to score three of their own in the last 11 minutes of play to beat Egypt 3-2.

Lionel Messi was the protagonist of the game with a goal and an assist despite missing a penalty in the first half and he'll be available again against Switzerland.

Gonzalo Montiel is the only Argentine at risk of a suspension in the quarter-final.

Switzerland

The 0-0 between Colombia and Switzerland won't go down as a vintage World Cup game but the Swiss had to fight hard for their eventual victory on penalties.

Granit Xhaka, Denis Zakaria and Miro Muheim all received yellows in the game.