Do Premier League red cards count in Carabao Cup & FA Cup? Player suspension rules for domestic cups explained

There will be plenty of fixtures across all domestic competitions in England this month with the Premier League, FA Cup and the EFL Cup all being played.

Newcastle United are through to the final of the Carabao Cup, their first final appearance at Wembley since the 1999 FA Cup final, after beating Southampton 3-1 on aggregate in their semi-final. They will face Manchester United who overcame Nottingham Forest in their own semi-final and have been in superb form under Erik ten Hag in recent weeks.

There have been questions about how suspensions across English football are dealt with around these types of matches with Newcastle set to be without one of the key players this season. Midfielder Bruno Guimarães was sent off in their semi final win over Southampton while goalkeeper Nick Pope was shown red in their last league match against Liverpool. Here’s what those bookings means for the players statuses in the final

Do EFL Cup red cards count in Premier League and vice versa?

Red cards in Premier League, FA Cup and EFL Cup fixtures see players suspended across all domestic competitions. As of the 2019/20 season, the rules were changed so that suspensions from accumulating yellow cards only applied for the specific competition. However, red cards still carry across all competitions.

For Newcastle, that means that Bruno has served his suspension after his EFL Cup semi final sending off and will be available to play at wembley. However, Nick Pope’s red car in the Premier League match with Liverpool means he is now ruled out.

Do FA Cup red cards count in Premier League?

The same rules for the EFL Cup apply for the FA Cup and the Premier League. Any player who receives a red car in any of those competitions is suspended across all domestic matches. That means that any player who is shown a red card in the Premier League would miss the next domestic match, regardless of which competition it is.

For example, if a Manchester United player is shown red in their second leg semi final ties against Nottingham Forest tonight then they would miss their next Premier League match against Crystal Palace. By the same rules, if Newcastle receive a red card in their Premier League match with Liverpool on February 18 then the player would be suspended for the EFL Cup final.

Do FA Cup and EFL Cup yellow cards count in Premier League?

As of the 2019/20 season, yellow cards in domestic competitions only count for the specific competition they were awarded in.

If a player received yellow cards in two consecutive FA Cup matches then they would miss their sides next FA Cup match but the ban would not apply to the EFL Cup or Premier League. The same rules apply for yellow cards awarded in the Premier League or EFL Cup towards the FA Cup and each other.

In the cup competitions, all yellow cards accumulated are wiped after the quarter-final stage and players can not miss the final due to accumulating yellow cards.