Referees will show footballers a pink card during international tournament this summer

Referees will be showing footballers a pink card during an international tournament this summer.

Rather than the typical showing of a card to indicate a player has broken a rule or is getting sent off, this new card is to be used for health and substitution reasons.

The pink card is set to be introduced at Copa América 2024, which kicks off on 20 June and will come to an end on 14 July – yep, the same day as the Euros final.

The pink card is being introduced. (Getty stock photo)

The men’s football tournament of South America national teams will see Lionel Messi and Argentina defend the title they won back in 2021 for the fifteenth time.

South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL has announced the rule for the matches.

This extra card will be used for very specific (and hopefully very rare) moments of the games. In prioritising the health of players, this card can allow a team to have a sixth and extra substitute.

The pink card will be used to indicate a player needs to be replaced because they’ve suffered a physical challenge that has affected their head. And more importantly, it will be used to indicate the player is suspected of suffering some form of head injury or concussion.

CONMEBOL announced the decision on Tuesday (21 May), and issued a statement that coaches will need to notify the on-filed referee or fourth official to make this change. The head referee will then display the pink card.

Copa America will kick off with the new substitutes rule in June. (Wagner Meier/Getty Images)

This extra substitution can only be made once for each team during a match, as an addition to the five substitutions already allowed.

Organisers added that the player who has been substituted with the pink card cannot then re-enter the field later in the game.

Instead, they will go to the changing rooms and if needed, to the medical centre.

Plus, when the pink card is used to indicate a potential head injury or concussion, the affected player must have the doctor who detected the injury send the signed concussion evaluation (known as a SCAT5 form) to the CONMEBOL medical committee within 24 hours of the end of the match.

While UK football and the Euros aren’t implementing this new pink card, it follows the International Football Association Board (IFAB) approving permanent concussion substitutions earlier this year.

That law will officially come into force from 1 July, but the board said that competitions starting before then, like the Euros, can implement the important protocol beforehand.