Miami, FL – Concacaf has announced the introduction of an appeals system for direct red cards which will be available to competing teams in its senior competitions. The first competition in which this new process applies is the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, which begins next week.
Participating teams will now have the opportunity post-match to request a review of direct red cards by a newly created Concacaf Independent Review Panel.
Any club or senior national team which intends to appeal a direct red card awarded in a Concacaf competition must inform the Confederation of their intention to do so no later than two hours after the end of the relevant match. This must be followed by a full written appeal submitted to Concacaf within the next 48 hours.
Provided these requirements are met, three independent members of a new Concacaf Independent Panel will consider the appeal and determine if it should be upheld.
The three possible outcomes of an appeal are as follows:
Successful appeal: The three Concacaf Independent Panel members unanimously decide to overturn the on-field decision of a direct red card. The direct red card will be rescinded.
Unsuccessful appeal: The three Concacaf Independent Panel members do not reach a unanimous decision to overturn the on-field decision of a direct red card. The direct red card decision is subsequently upheld.
Unsuccessful appeal deemed frivolous: The three Concacaf Independent Panel members unanimously decide to uphold the on-field decision of a direct red card and unanimously deem the appeal to be frivolous. The on-field decision of a direct red card will be upheld and the player in question will receive an additional one match suspension.
The decisions rendered by the Concacaf Independent Review Panel will be final and are not subject to further appeal.
No other on-field decisions, including yellow cards, can be reviewed by the Concacaf Independent Panel and this will only apply for Concacaf senior (women’s and men’s) competitions. For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include FIFA organized competitions or matches (for example, it does not include the FIFA Men’s Qualifiers to the Qatar 2022 World Cup).
