The Law 12 listing

Persistent infringement is one of the seven cautionable offences. It applies when a player repeatedly commits fouls, even when each individual foul on its own would not warrant a card.

The point of the Law is to stop a player chipping away at the flow of the match through small, technically-not-card-worthy fouls.

There is no fixed count

IFAB deliberately does not specify how many fouls trigger a caution. The Law leaves it to the referee's pattern judgment. Factors that push the threshold lower:

• Frequency — three fouls in 10 minutes is more obvious than three across a half
• Targeting — repeated fouls on the same opponent escalate faster
• Context — fouls that disrupt the rhythm of the match get cautioned earlier
• Tactical pattern — fouls that look planned rather than mistimed are caught faster

A player can be on five fouls in 80 minutes without a card if the fouls are spread, isolated, and not targeting one opponent. Another player can be on three fouls and booked because the pattern is obvious.

The team version

Refereeing instruction allows for a team version of persistent infringement: when two or three players take turns fouling the same opponent. None of the individual players are on enough fouls for a personal caution, but the pattern is collective.

In that case the referee can:

1. Warn both teams that the pattern has been seen
2. Caution the next player who fouls the targeted opponent

This is one of the few places where a collective pattern produces an individual yellow card.

Why warnings come first

Most referees give a verbal warning before booking for persistent infringement. The reasoning:

• The pattern, not any single foul, is the offence
• A clear warning gives the player a fair chance to adjust
• A booking that arrives after a warning is harder to dispute

If fouls continue after a warning, the caution follows on the next foul — even one that would otherwise have been a free kick with no card.

Persistent infringement vs unsporting behaviour

Both are yellow cards under Law 12, but they apply to different patterns:

• Persistent infringement — repeated fouls, often minor, accumulating across the match
• Unsporting behaviour (tactical foul) — a single deliberate foul to stop a promising attack

A player on multiple cynical fouls can fit both categories. The referee usually picks one based on whether the latest foul was the cynical kind (unsporting) or just the latest in a pattern (persistent).