World record 53 red cards shown in Brazilian youth match
A Brazilian under-20s semi-final between Uberlandia and Mamore produced a world-record 53 red cards on Sunday, after a mass brawl erupted in the closing stages.
The total comfortably beats the previous mark of 36, set on February 27, 2011.
Referee Fernando Patrick Drosghic Modesto’s report, published by the Minas Gerais football federation, lists 43 players, eight coaching staff and two club officials as dismissed. Uberlandia had 24 people sent off and Mamore 29, with almost all the cards coming in stoppage time.
The trouble flared when Mamore went 3-1 ahead and a player taunted the Uberlandia bench during the celebrations. A member of the Uberlandia coaching team then ran onto the pitch and pushed a player, “triggering a full-scale brawl”, according to the report.
The referee wrote that he could not physically show the cards “due to the tumult”. Those sent off in the melee were accused of “striking and hitting his opponents with punches and kicks”, while six Uberlandia ball-boys also kicked and threw objects at Mamore players.
Trouble first flared seven minutes into the second half, when an Uberlandia player collected a second yellow card and three staff members walked onto the pitch towards the officials. Two were sent off, and play stopped for 40 minutes until they were removed.
Drosghic Modesto alleged that threats of violence, including death threats, were made against him, and a police report was filed. Military police were called to Estadio Parque do Sabia after damage to the ground, according to Brazilian outlet O Tempo.
Allegations of vandalism also surfaced after the match. The referee was told Mamore’s players had damaged the dressing room they used, while one staff member allegedly threw the Mamore team’s water cooler, masseur’s bag and other items into a ditch.
Uberlandia have since withdrawn from the competition in what they described as a “gesture of fair play”, allowing Mamore to advance to the final. The previous record came in a fifth-division match in Argentina between Atletico Claypole and Victoriano Arenas.