Former FIFA referee Sergei Shebek has commented on FIFA's intentions to introduce an orange card, which will mean a temporary suspension for ten minutes, for offences that deserve more punishment than a warning.
- This innovation is not bad. The referee kitchen has long used the term "pink card" as something between a yellow and red card. Even at training camps, referees are shown the episode and told that it is a pink card and that the referee at his discretion should determine whether to show a yellow or red card. Now it will be easier for referees to decide the fate of controversial episodes because they will be authorised to show the orange card.
In my opinion, IFAB is taking this step because they realise that a match is interesting when there are 22 players on the pitch from the first to the final minute. The orange card will reduce the number of red cards, which means that games will be played more often in the 11-on-11 format rather than 11-on-10 or 11-on-9," Expres quoted Shebek as saying.