Top 10 footballers who have never received a red card
Published on 12 Oct 2019 | Last updated on 01 Jul 2026 | Reading time: 5 minutes
Photo: dailyrecord.co.uk
How could you not receive a single red card during your entire football career? Sportsmanship or you just got lucky? To be sent off in football is not that hard. Getting a red card in football is not so complicated. To proof that we will give you an example with the record for the fastest red card. The record-holder is Serge Pacome Djiehoua who has received a direct red card in just 3 seconds. This happened at a meeting of the Greek Championship. To illustrate how little time a footballer needs to lose his mind and get a red card, we added one video with the top 10 fastest red cards in football.
If you've watched the video, you'll see that even stars like Messi can get a ridiculous red card. But it's not that complicated. Even if you are trying to play fair you can still be sent off easy. It happens to everyone but not to them. Who are those 10 players? Check out 10 players who do not have an official red card in their entire career.
10 – Goalkeepers. We give the goalkeepers one place in total because even though they are in contact with the opposing players, this should still be very rare. Can you imagine a professional goalkeeper who jumps with both feet for a tackle? In addition to that, the goalkeepers without a red card in national and club football are many, among them are names such as Manuel Neuer, Edwin Van der Sar, and Peter Schmeichel. His Son Kasper has already surpassed him in this aspect and has already been sent to the showers.
9 – Ryan Giggs. The widespread belief is that Ryan Giggs never received a red card in his entire football career. But it is a myth. The truth is that Giggs was sent off in 2001 with Wales in a match from the World Cup 2002 Qualifications against Norway, which the Scandinavians won with 3:2. In this game, Machester United’s legend first receives a yellow card after challenging a referee’s decision and then sees a second yellow and a red card, because of a late tackle. However, in his 24-year career with more than 960 club football matches, Giggs has never received a red card with the jersey of his one and only Manchester United. The achievement that deserves a place in this ranking.
Photo: https://bg.wikipedia.org
8 – Karim Benzema. From the perspective of a lot he is a bad guy because of the sex scandal from a few years ago, which eventually cost him his place in the national team of France. On the pitch, however, it looks like he is a good boy. And despite being a hardworking striker, Benzema has never received a red card in his career. He linked the scandal surrounding him and these statistics, posting on Twitter in 2016: “12 seasons as a professional, 541 matches, 0 red cards, and 11 yellow cards. And some people question the example I set?”.
7 – Damien Duff. Probably a lot of you remember the blond midfielder of Chelsea and Ireland. After more than 730 matches with Blackburn, Chelsea, Newcastle, Fulham, Melbourne, Shamrock, and Ireland, Duff retired without ever been sent off.
6 – Joseph Zovinec. We are quite sure that you have not heard that name. Here the case is a little different. So far, we are talking about professionals, trained, who know what fair-play means. Now imagine going out every week in games of regional amateur levels in Slovakia and not receiving a red card. And not only red but also never to receive a yellow card too. Additionally, this player practices for 60 years actively his favorite game. This is the Slovakian Joseph Zovinec, who won the FIFA Fair Play award in 1997. This footballer, albeit an amateur, deserves even a higher ranking, but we put more weight to the professional level.
5 – Michel Platini. From an amateur to a professional. But it looks like only on the pitch. The former Juventus and France midfielder never received a red card in his brilliant career. But then he received a lot of red cards after the corruption scandals as president of UEFA. He was also arrested recently.
4 – Andres Iniesta. There is no point in talking about Iniesta’s football capabilities. An interesting and not so often commented aspect of his games, however, is fair play. In over 800 games for Barcelona, Vissel Kobe, and Spain, Iniesta has never been sent off. And although he is almost all the time playing in the center of the pitch where the serious tackles can be seen in every game, Barca’s ex-playmaker has always preferred to build the game instead of ruining it, to deserve applause after a beautiful goal or assist instead after a harsh tackle. So the absence of a red card in his career is somehow natural.
3- Raul. Yes, he is a striker. He should not receive red cards, at least he would rarely have to, but playing in over 1000 matches for Real Madrid, Schalke, Al Sadd, New York Cosmos, and Spain and not getting the heaviest punishment in the football game is very impressive. Raul was one of those old, classic footballers – respecting the opponent and the game. Impeccable leader and goal scorer. He was playing football with class. And the class and the red cards are quite often very far from each other.
2 – Philipp Lahm. He was a defender of Bayern Munich. Every week he was playing in front of thousands of noisy fans. He takes part in World Cup finals, Champions League finals, important games deciding trophies, but never received a red card. How is that possible? The full-back, who sometimes was playing also as a midfielder, remains in the minds of all the fans as one of the good guys in football. Very efficient, always full of energy, and never aggressive. Lahm ranks second here.
1 – Gary Lineker. You are probably wondering why we are putting this man in front of Philipp Lahm, realizing that Lahm is a defender. The simple reason is that in 647 matches for Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham, Nagoya, and England, the striker has not only never received a red card but also has never received even a yellow card. You can see a yellow card for almost everything – wasting of time, words towards the referee, a late tackle, jersey stripping. What are these nerves of steel that Lineker has? In 1990, the English legend and current football analyst received the FIFA Fair Play award for this amazing achievement. Some British players respect their opponents, unlike others.
Photo: https://metro.co.uk
