A strange yellow card givenby referee in the Sweedish football league match between Hammarby IF and Degerfors IF. Jan Gunnar Solli from the hometeam pulls up his shirt just as the ball touches his belly/chest. He pulls the shirt down immediately and catches the ball under his shirt. A funny moment in the last minutes of a 5-0 match. The referee whistles for a foul and books Solli.

Check out the situation. Would you give a yellow card for this as well? I posted my thoughts about the situation below the video.

There are 13 reasons in total on page 119 of Fifa’s rulebook about unsporting behaviour. The Laws of the Game say that referees can give a yellow card for unsporting behaviour under the following conditions: If a player “acts in a manner which shows a lack of respect for the game”. That is one reason from the list which the referee could use to give a player this “strange yellow card”. UPDATE: The other one might be handling. Although I thought of using an object in his hand would be a shinguard for example, but a Facebook fan mentioned that this also could be clothing. (See also comment of larbitre about this below).

For me, this is a player making a joke at the football pitch. He did not prevent the opponent of developing an attack by this action. He prevents a player from playing the ball, yes, so I’d whistle for this as a foul. No card for me in this situation, just a free kick – and a laugh of course 🙂