The foulers, the martyrs
and the untouchables
96 matches into the World Cup, 2,191 fouls have been committed. The referees have answered with 246 yellow cards and 13 red. Who fouls, who gets fouled — and who gets away with it? We counted. It’s what we do.
Free kicks won/match vs fouls committed/match · 48 teams · red = Sweden
Who fouls — and who gets fouled?
Every team has two foul numbers: the free kicks they win (opponents fouling them) and the fouls they commit. Plot one against the other and you get four kinds of team. Morocco are the tournament’s martyrs — the most fouled side of all (17.4 free kicks won per match) while fouling only moderately themselves. Haiti chose a different path: 18.3 fouls committed per match, the most in the entire World Cup. Cape Verde committed 6.8 fouls per match and went home as the tournament’s cleanest team. Nobody thanked them.
Sweden: fouled more than they foul. The classic Swedish self-image, now with data to back it.
Fouls committed per card · descending · light grey = only 3 matches (noisy)
Fouls per card — who gets away with it?
A simple ratio: fouls committed divided by cards received. A high number means a team gets through a lot of fouls before the referee loses patience — clean play, smart fouls or lenient officiating. A low number means the card comes out immediately. The spread is absurd: Czechia 37.0 at the top, Curaçao 4.6 at the bottom. Same tournament, same rulebook.
- 🇨🇿Czechia *37.0
- 🇹🇳Tunisia *27.0
- 🇳🇴Norway24.0
- 🇦🇷Argentina19.7
- 🇪🇸Spain18.3
- 🇩🇪Germany17.0
- 🇹🇷Turkey *15.5
- 🇳🇱Netherlands14.7
- 🇯🇵Japan13.8
- 🇫🇷France12.2
- 🇧🇪Belgium12.0
- 🇸🇳Senegal12.0
- 🇲🇽Mexico11.6
- 🇨🇭Switzerland11.5
- 🇺🇿Uzbekistan *11.2
- 🇭🇷Croatia11.2
- 🇲🇦Morocco10.2
- 🇩🇿Algeria9.7
- 🇦🇹Austria9.4
- 🇬🇭Ghana9.3
- 🇦🇺Australia9.2
- 🇵🇦Panama *9.2
- 🇨🇴Colombia8.8
- 🇸🇪Sweden8.6
- 🏴Scotland *8.4
- 🇳🇿New Zealand *8.0
- 🇭🇹Haiti *7.9
- 🇯🇴Jordan *7.8
- 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina7.5
- 🇨🇩DR Congo7.3
- 🇨🇮Ivory Coast7.2
- 🇺🇸USA7.0
- 🏴England6.8
- 🇵🇾Paraguay6.6
- 🇨🇦Canada6.5
- 🇧🇷Brazil6.4
- 🇵🇹Portugal6.3
- 🇰🇷South Korea *6.2
- 🇶🇦Qatar *6.0
- 🇮🇷Iran *5.8
- 🇨🇻Cape Verde5.4
- 🇿🇦South Africa5.4
- 🇮🇶Iraq *5.4
- 🇪🇨Ecuador5.4
- 🇺🇾Uruguay *5.2
- 🇪🇬Egypt4.9
- 🇸🇦Saudi Arabia *4.8
- 🇨🇼Curaçao *4.6
* Teams with three matches were knocked out in the group stage. Their ratios rest on small numbers — Czechia’s 37.0 rests on exactly one yellow card. The metric is most meaningful for teams with 4–5 matches. Free kicks per match is more stable.
🟨 Egypt · 12 yellows in 5 matches
Tournament record in distrust.
Egypt reached the knockout stage with twelve yellow cards in five matches — one card every 4.9 fouls, the tightest rate in the World Cup. Norway committed more fouls in total and picked up two yellows all tournament. Either Norway fouls smarter than everyone else, or the referees have decided who looks guilty.
The statistics don’t lie. They just refuse to tell you why.
Same tournament, same rulebook — and a gap of 19 fouls per booking between the two. Referees call what they see. The question is what they’re looking for.
Top 5 · three lists
The leaderboards.
- 🇲🇦Morocco17.4
- 🏴England15.6
- 🇨🇭Switzerland15.2
- 🇭🇹Haiti14.7
- 🇨🇦Canada14.6
- 🇭🇹Haiti18.3
- 🇵🇦Panama15.3
- 🇺🇿Uzbekistan15.0
- 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina15.0
- 🇨🇦Canada14.4
- 🇨🇻Cape Verde6.8
- 🇨🇮Ivory Coast7.2
- 🇩🇿Algeria7.2
- 🇵🇹Portugal8.8
- 🇸🇳Senegal9.0
Haiti and Canada appear in both foul leaderboards. That’s called being involved in the game.
The home team · 4 matches
And Sweden?
Four matches, 51 free kicks won (12.8 per match), 43 fouls committed (10.8 per match), five yellows, zero reds. Sweden get fouled more than they foul and are booked roughly in line with the tournament average — 8.6 fouls per card against the average of 8.5. A team that doesn’t provoke the referee statistics in either direction. There are worse traits to have in a knockout tournament.
Further reading
BetBuildersAI is a Swedish-language site — the links below lead to pages in Swedish.
Frequently asked questions about fouls & cards at WC 2026
Which team gets fouled the most at the 2026 World Cup?+
Morocco are the tournament martyrs: 17.4 free kicks won per match, clearly the most of all 48 teams. England (15.6) and Switzerland (15.2) follow — but they also foul more themselves.
Which team commits the most fouls at the 2026 World Cup?+
Haiti, with 18.3 fouls committed per match — the most in the entire World Cup. Panama (15.3), Uzbekistan and Bosnia (15.0) are closest. The cleanest team is Cape Verde at 6.8 fouls per match.
What does fouls per card mean?+
A team’s own fouls divided by cards received (yellow + red). A high number means the team gets through a lot of fouls per booking — clean play, smart fouls or lenient officiating. A low number means the card comes out immediately. The tournament average is 8.5. For teams with only three matches the metric is noisy — Czechia’s 37.0 rests on a single card.
Which team has received the most cards at the 2026 World Cup?+
Egypt: 12 yellow cards in five matches, the most in the tournament — one card every 4.9 fouls. In total, referees have shown 246 yellow and 13 red cards across the first 96 matches.
What do Sweden’s foul numbers look like?+
Four matches, 51 free kicks won (12.8 per match), 43 fouls committed (10.8 per match), five yellows and zero reds. 8.6 fouls per card — almost exactly the tournament average of 8.5. Sweden get fouled more than they foul.
Data study · FIFA World Cup 2026 · snapshot after 96 matches played. Source: PlaymakerAI / footballanalytics. Free kicks won = opponents’ fouls · fouls committed = own fouls · fouls per card = own fouls ÷ (yellow + red).