“The yellow card has not changed.” Didier Deschamps was a little disappointed to announce FIFA’s decision on the yellow card received by Michael Olisse during France’s 1-0 win over Paraguay in the World Cup round of 16.
“We received a notification from FIFA this morning and it stands,” the Blues coach told a news conference. The day after the match, the French Football Federation (FFF) demanded that Olise’s card be revoked, considering that the error for which the Blues playmaker was punished did not occur.
“Justified and reasonable” request
But why did FIFA refuse to cancel this yellow card? World football’s governing body never explained its decision, refusing any communication.
However, the FFF’s request complied with all the conditions permitted by the FIFA Disciplinary Code. In Chapter 68, on “cancellation of warnings,” Article 1 states that “The Disciplinary Commission may, on its own initiative or at the justified and reasonable request of the confederation, take an irrevocable decision to cancel warnings that did not lead to expulsion or suspension.”
We can assess that the French Football Federation’s request, based on the principle that Michael Olise did not touch Paraguayan Matias Galarza in his 97th-minute altercation, was “justified and reasonable”, given that his yellow card did not lead to either an ejection or a suspension.
France also intended to build on recent case law and the favor given to Falorin Balogun after his Round of 16 suspension against Belgium was overturned following Bosnia and Herzegovina’s red card. In this case, FIFA took action after Donald Trump intervened in a dispute with Gianni Infantino.
What if a yellow card was logical?
FIFA’s decision to retain this yellow card can be explained by several hypotheses. Initially, the court may have decided to immediately dismiss the highly controversial Balogun precedent case to avoid multiple requests in the future. We can also note that the American striker’s red card was not cancelled, but his disqualification was lifted.
Secondly, FIFA could refuse to revoke the card in accordance with its rules. The Disciplinary Commission states in its texts that if it decides to cancel a card, it must “take into account” the “consequences for the integrity of the competition in question and the equal treatment between participants”, without going into detail. Thus, FIFA would consider that the cancellation of the card violated fairness between the 8 remaining teams, who had not enjoyed such preferential treatment up to that point.
Finally, the most likely hypothesis: given the request of the FFF, the Disciplinary Commission and the selected panel of judges could well come to the conclusion that Michael Olise made a mistake, then a small gesture of humor (he put his finger to his mouth) would be enough to receive a yellow card, despite the Paraguayan’s crude simulation.