Picture : Sphephelo Sithole received the first red card of the World Cup in this action.
World Cup opener with most red cards
In the first game at the 2026 World Cup, there were three red cards awarded. Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane got marching from South African side and Cesar Montes from Mexican.
For comparison: at the 2022 World Cup, only four red cards were shown in 64 games overall.
Three players sent off is more than there were in the first 57 games of the 2022 World Cup (two).
South Africa are the first team to receive two red cards in a World Cup match since 2006, when both Portugal and Netherlands had two players sent off in their round of 16 clash.
The only occasion before to see two players from one side sent off in a World Cup opener was n 1990: André Kana-Biyik and Benjamin Massing (Cameroon, vs Argentina).
In all World Cup opening games before, 4 players were expelled, also Hans Pesser in 1938 (Germany, vs Switzerland) and Marco Etcheverry in 1994 (Bolivia, vs Germany).
| WORLD CUP | MOST | RED CARDS |
| Game | RC | Date |
| Portugal (2) – Netherlands (2) 1-0 | 4 | 25/06/2006 |
| Brazil (2) – Czechoslovakia (1) 1-1 | 3 | 12/06/1938 |
| Hungary (1) – Brazil (2) 4-2 | 3 | 27/06/1954 |
| Denmark (2) – South Africa (1) 1-1 | 3 | 18/06/1998 |
| Italy (1) – United States (2) 1-1 | 3 | 17/06/2006 |
| Croatia (2) – Australia (1) 2-2 | 3 | 22/06/2006 |
| Mexico (1) – South Africa (2) 2-0 | 3 | 11/06/2026 |