12 Fastest Red Cards in Euros History (Ranked)

Red cards, as is always the case with any tournament, have played an important role in the history of the European Championships.

Alan Mullery received the first red card in the history of the tournament whilst playing for England against Yugoslavia at Euro 1968, whilst the most recent recipient is current Bologna midfielder Remo Freuler, who received his marching orders against Spain at Euro 2020 (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Back in 1968, only four teams played in the tournament and that was still the case with the 1976 edition which saw three red cards given, all of them coming in one fixture between the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia.

This list focuses on the players who were sent off the quickest since the tournament was created, and there are some intriguing names in quite high-profile games that come up. So, without further ado, take a look at the 12 fastest red cards in the history of the European Championships and the story of how they affected the game.

12 Ethan Ampadu, Euro 2020

Time sent off: 55th minute

Ethan Ampadu and red cards against Italian teams seem to go hand in hand. The Leeds player received an incredibly strange one whilst playing for Venezia against Salernitana in October 2021 but it’s his red card against Italy in that summer’s European Championships that we are looking at today.

Just after the opening ten minutes of the second half of the Group A clash between Wales and Italy, the young defender was sent off for a poorly executed tackle that saw Federico Bernadeschi stamped on by Ampadu. He was the first player to be sent off during that edition of the famous tournament and in the process became the youngest player ever to be sent off in a European Championship. Wales eventually lost the game to Italy but despite that, they managed to progress to the Round of 16.

11 Matthijs de Ligt, Euro 2020

Time sent off: 55th minute

In what is quite a coincidence, the next red card in the 2020 edition of the European Championships came exactly a week later in the same minute. It came only moments after Donyell Malen had failed to score despite finding himself in open space and only served to compound the Netherlands’ recent international tournament woes.

De Ligt was caught out by Patrik Schick, who had scored an absolutely unbelievable goal against Scotland in the same tournament, and in a moment of madness handled the ball to try and pull it back. Initially, the referee only gave De Ligt a yellow card but it was overturned after a VAR check and upgraded to red.

This made the Netherlands the nation to have been shown the most red cards in the history of the Euro’s and, rather bizarrely, all four of their red cards have come either against the Czech Republic or its predecessor state, Czechoslovakia.

10 Jaroslav Pollak, Euro 1976

Time sent off: 53rd minute

Is there a national rivalry between Czechia and the Netherlands that we don’t know about? This is one of six red cards to have been shown in a European Championship fixture between Czechia and the Netherlands.

Pollak was considered to be one of the key players in the 1970s for Czechoslovakia and he was nicknamed “Bobby” both for his style of play and thinning hair resembling England legend, Bobby Charlton. However, he only played for just under an hour at Euro 1976 before being sent off for a mistimed tackle. Czechoslovakia were already a goal up though and the Netherlands receiving two red cards later on in the game sank the Oranje. Czechoslovakia went on to win the tournament, with Antonin Panenka inventing the famous penalty kick in the final against West Germany.

9 Johann Vogel, Euro 2004

Time sent off: 50th minute

Johann Vogel suffered the ignominy of being the first player to get sent off at Euro 2004. The first double booking in this list, Vogel was sent off amidst a flurry of yellow cards for both sides.

Vogel was given the first yellow card of the match before former Rangers striker Dado Prso was shown the next for diving in the box. Switzerland were also denied a penalty around the half hour mark of the game. Vogel’s second offence was a relatively light one as he petulantly kicked the ball away but as he was already walking on eggshells, this led to a second booking and an early shower for the former Blackburn Rovers and AC Milan midfielder.

8 Sergei Ovchinnikov, Euro 2004

Time sent off: 45th minute

The second sending off of this tournament occurred three days later in a group stage fixture between Portugal and Russia. Portugal had dominated the game up until the sending off and had already taken the lead after Deco linked up with his then Porto teammate, Maniche.

Russia were put under extreme pressure for the rest of the game with that only being exacerbated in the 45th minute when goalkeeper Ovchinnikov was adjudged to have handled the ball outside the area after he rushed out to claim Dmitri Sennikov’s woefully under-hit back-pass.

7 Sokratis Papastathopulous, Euro 2012

Time sent off: 44th minute

Another first red card, this came in the opening game of the 2012 edition of the tournament that was jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

In front of what was practically an entire stadium of Polish fans, the tournament hosts took the lead in the game through Robert Lewandowski. At the time he was fresh off a stunning breakthrough season for Borussia Dortmund where he had scored 30 goals in 47 appearances.

A perhaps harsh first yellow card for Papastathopulous came after he challenged for a header not long after the opening goal. Greece were then handed an uphill battle by their defender as he held back Polish forward Ludovic Obraniak. They were not deterred, however, as Dimitris Salpingdis equalised for Greece, earning them a point. Additionally, Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was also sent off in this game.

6 Lorik Cana, Euro 2016

Time sent off: 36th minute

Albania nearly snatched what would have been a historic point for the nation but a Fabian Schar goal and Lorik Cana red card dashed any hopes of that.

Cana was sent off after being booked for a second time in the game following a handball. The captain’s indiscretion put to bed any hopes that Albania had of achieving a positive result in their first ever game at the European Championships as they failed to overturn the deficit that they found themselves at after the opening five minutes.

The game is significant for another reason, however, as Granit and Taulant Xhaka became the first brothers to appear on opposing sides at a Euros.

Both brothers were born in Switzerland after their parents fled Kosovo following the outbreak of the Yugoslav wars during the early 1990s. Six of Switzerland’s 23-man squad had links to Albania and Kosovo and likewise, 10 of Albania’s squad were raised in Switzerland as it became a popular safe haven for those fleeing the tragic conflict.

5 Gianluca Zambrotta, Euro 2000

Time sent off: 34th minute

Gianluca Zambrotta’s double booking put Italy’s backs against the wall for 84 minutes in the semi-final of Euro 2000.

His first yellow card offence occurred during the 14th minute of the match after a rash challenge on Boudewijn Zenden. The Dutch winger, then a player for Barcelona, appeared to be a target of Zambrotta as the Italian full-back fouled him for the second time in 20 minutes, leading to him receiving his marching orders.

This forced Italy to hold on for the rest of the game. They managed to keep it scoreless before defeating the Dutch on penalties to advance into the final. It was a notable final too, as it was the last time a European Championship was decided by a golden goal.

4 Alpay Ozalan, Euro 2000

Time sent off: 29th minute

Alpay Ozalan probably won’t want to remember this game as his red card led to Portugal defeating Turkey.

Whenever Ozalan is reminded of the game however, he will feel a great deal of injustice as his sending off was a strange one. A free-kick ended with Fernando Couto lying on the ground clutching his face, with Ozalan judged to be the perpetrator by Dutch referee Dick Jol. However, TV replays showed that Couto was actually hit in the face by his own player, making Ozalan innocent.

Portugal defeated Turkey by two goals to nil and advanced to the semi-finals of Euro 2000 where they were beaten by eventual champions France via a Zinedine Zidane golden goal.

3 Luigi Appolini, Euro 1996

Time sent off: 28th minute

Appolini became the first player to be sent off at the 1996 edition of the Euro’s. A very poor challenge from behind saw Appolini receive a second yellow card, giving him the opportunity to take a very early bath.

Pavel Nedved had opened the scoring for the Czech Republic before Enrico Chiesa – father of Federico Chiesa – equalised for Italy not long after. The sending off left Italy in the lurch and the Czech Republic took advantage of this as Radek Bejbl scored the winner in the 35th minute.

2 Eric Abidal, Euro 2008

Time sent off: 24th minute

No player had been sent off quicker in the European Championships than Eric Abidal was for France at Euro 2008, until over 15 years later.

Abidal practically scythed down Luca Toni inside the box in the 24th minute of this group stage clash between France and Italy. Andrea Pirlo slotted the subsequent penalty home before Daniele de Rossi added Italy’s second goal midway through the second half to sink France.

This knocked the Euro 2000 champions out of the tournament at the group stage as they began their dismal run of tournament form that would last until their triumph at the 2018 World Cup.

1 Antonin Barak, Euro 2024

Time sent off: 20th minute

Breaking the record for the quickest sending off in European Championship history, Antonin Barak etched his name into folklore after picking up his second yellow card in just the 20th minute of Czech Republic’s decisive game against Turkey in the group stages of Euro 2024. It was a match marred with ill-temper, with a total of 17 yellow cards dished out, while Tomas Chory was given his marching orders too in the dying embers of the game.

Chory’s red card came as a result of a scuffle between both sets of players, and in the end it was Turkey who were able to celebrate progression into the last 16 of the competition, sending Czech Republic out. Barak’s red card mid-way through the first-half proved to be a huge influence on the game’s result.