By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-08-18 17:54:05 | Updated at 2026-08-20 02:07:59
1 day ago
Which players and teams have received the most cards in a Premier League campaign? We reveal all.
There was very little notable about Chelsea under Mauricio Pochettino in 2023-24, but their penultimate game of the season saw them break an all-time Premier League record.
In a win at Brighton, yellow cards for Moisés Caicedo and Raheem Sterling were followed by a Reece James red, taking Chelsea to 107 cards in total – 103 yellows, four reds. This set a new Premier League record for the most cards given to a team in a single Premier League campaign, previously set by Leeds United in 2021-22 (104).
They’d already equalled Leeds’ record from 2021-22 a game earlier, when Nicolas Jackson completed a turnaround against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
By jumping into the crowd to embrace the Chelsea fans, Jackson was given a yellow card for excessive celebration by referee Chris Kavanagh. On the final day of the season, they added two more yellows to take their record-breaking total to 109.
So, which other teams have been shown the most cards in a Premier League campaign?
Most Cards by Teams in a Premier League Season
Chelsea in 2023-24 – 109 cards: 105 yellows, 4 reds
Leeds United in 2021-22 – 104 cards: 101 yellows, 3 reds
Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2023-24 – 104 cards: 100 yellows, 4 reds
Tottenham Hotspur in 2025-26 – 103 cards: 99 yellows, 4 reds
Chelsea in 2024-25 – 101 cards: 99 yellows, 2 reds
Sheffield United in 2023-24 – 100 cards: 95 yellows, 5 reds
Chelsea in 2025-26 – 98 cards: 90 yellows, 8 reds
Derby County in 1999-00 – 97 cards: 93 yellows, 4 reds
Bournemouth in 2024-25 – 96 cards: 94 yellows, 2 reds
Sunderland in 2014-15 – 96 cards: 94 yellows, 2 reds
After setting the all-time Premier League cards record in 2023-24, Chelsea followed it up by breaking the 100-card barrier again the following season. In 2024-25, the Blues racked up 101 cards (99 yellows, 2 reds), to become the only side in Premier League history to record 100+ cards in two seasons. What’s more, they did it in back-to-back campaigns.
They didn’t quite make it three in a row, falling just two cards short in 2025-26, when they received 98, with a whopping eight of those being reds, just one shy of the competition record (9 reds for Sunderland in 2009-10 and QPR in 2011-12).
Wolves are another club to have broken the 100-card barrier, doing so in 2023-24, picking up 100 yellows and four reds to total 104 cards.
Tottenham had a season to forget in 2025-26, very nearly getting relegated, but they did at least join the 100-card club, racking up 103 in total.
Sheffield United conceded a record 104 goals in the Premier League in 2023-24, and also made it to three figures for cards received. Their five red cards were only fewer than Burnley (7).
In Chelsea’s record-breaking 2023-24 season, striker Jackson was given 10 of Chelsea’s cards, all yellows. Rather comically, just one of those cards was for a foul. Six were for dissent or arguing with match officials, one was for entering the pitch without prior approval from the match referee and one was for failing to retreat from an opposition free-kick, before that yellow for jumping into the crowd to celebrate a goal.
Jackson wasn’t the only Chelsea player to reach double figures for Premier League cards in 2023-24, though. Caicedo was also given 11 yellows and Marc Cucurella made it to 10 with his final one on the last day of the season.
None of these players joined the list of players to have been given at least 14 cards (yellow and red combined) in a Premier League season, however.
Most Cards by Players in a Premier League Season
Étienne Capoue for Watford in 2018-19: 15 cards – 14 yellow, 1 red
Mark Hughes for Southampton in 1998-99: 14 cards – 14 yellow, 0 red
Olivier Dacourt for Everton in 1998-99: 14 cards – 13 yellow, 1 red
Paul Ince for Wolves in 2003-04: 14 cards – 13 yellow, 1 red
Robbie Savage for Leicester in 2001-02: 14 cards – 14 yellow, 0 red
Cheick Tioté for Newcastle in 2010-11: 14 cards – 14 yellow, 0 red
Lee Cattermole for Sunderland in 2014-15: 14 cards – 14 yellow, 0 red
José Holebas for Watford in 2016-17: 14 cards – 14 yellow, 0 red
João Palhinha for Fulham in 2022-23: 14 cards – 14 yellow, 0 red
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
