La Liga’s 5.36 cards per match highest in Europe’s top 5 leagues

The Spanish La Liga’s 5.36 cards per match are the highest across Europe’s top-five leagues, a sports company says.

The site has presented data showing that the Spanish league’s 1220 matches between January 2020 and March 2023 drew an average of 5.08 yellow cards and 0.28 red cards/match, the highest in the continent.

Following in the second spot was the Italian Serie A with an average of 4.95 cards/game (4.71 yellow and 0.24 red).

The French Ligue 1 wrapped the top 3 spots with 4.81 cards/game (3.89 yellow and 0.29 red). Meanwhile, the English Premier League was the most disciplined of the five. It recorded an average of 3.49 cards/game over 1211 matches. Of these, 3.37 were yellow cards, while 0.12 were red.

La Liga’s card situation has been a hotly contested topic in Spain. Many clubs, including Sevilla, have spoken out against the league’s refereeing body. They claim that the referees are too quick to give cards compared to other European leagues.

The concerns have grown following revelations that the league has recorded over 100 red cards for the first time since 2015.