Who got the most cards in the 2025/26 Premier League season

James Garner collected the most cards in the 2025/26 Premier League, and these are last season's numbers, not the season now under way. The Everton player finished on 12 yellow cards and no reds in 38 appearances, two clear of a chasing pack that bunched hard behind him. Six players finished on 10 yellows, but only three men on the entire leaderboard were sent off, which makes this table more interesting than a simple count of bookings.

Who got the most cards in the 2025/26 Premier League

Here is the discipline leaderboard from last season:

Player	Club	Yellows	Reds	Appearances
James Garner	Everton	12	0	38
Cristian Romero	Spurs	10	1	23
Dan Burn	Newcastle	10	0	29
Lewis Dunk	Brighton	10	0	33
Enzo Fernández	Chelsea	10	0	36
Joelinton	Newcastle	10	0	27
Ethan Ampadu	Leeds	10	0	35
Micky van de Ven	Spurs	9	1	35
Luke Shaw	Man Utd	9	0	38
Tim Iroegbunam	Everton	9	0	29
Matty Cash	Aston Villa	9	0	35
Noah Sadiki	Sunderland	9	0	33
Jan Paul van Hecke	Brighton	9	0	36
Saša Lukić	Fulham	9	0	26
Trai Hume	Sunderland	9	0	38

Garner's 12 yellows is the headline. Nobody else reached 11. Below him, six players sit on 10: Romero, Burn, Dunk, Fernández, Joelinton and Ampadu. Each of those six had a different season wrapped around the same card count. Burn did it in 29 appearances, Joelinton in 27, Dunk in 33, Fernández in 36, Ampadu in 35 and Romero in just 23.

The numbers tighten sharply as the list runs on. Eight yellows was enough to make the top 25, and ten players were tied on it, from Szoboszlai at Liverpool to James Tarkowski back at Everton. The middle of last season's discipline table was a crowd, which is normal. The top was not, and the man at the very top of it did not need to be told twice.

The 23-game season that ended in a red card

Romero is the standout on the list. He picked up 10 yellows and a red in only 23 appearances, meaning he collected 11 cards in a season that lasted him 23 games. That is a card roughly every two games, a rate no one near the top of the table matched. Spurs finished 17th with 41 points last season, and a defender who is booked or sent off that often is usually part of the explanation rather than a coincidence.

The red cards themselves come from a small group. Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominik Szoboszlai were the only men on the leaderboard sent off, each exactly once. Van de Ven's red came alongside 9 yellows in 35 appearances, and Szoboszlai's alongside 8 yellows in 36. Szoboszlai's Liverpool finished fifth with 60 points, while both Spurs defenders played for a side that ended the season 17th, and that gap between outcomes matters when you judge a card count.

The clubs collecting cards and what it says about their seasons

Spurs placed three players on the list: Romero, van de Ven and Kevin Danso. Everton also placed three, Garner, Tim Iroegbunam and Tarkowski, and finished 13th. Sunderland matched them with Noah Sadiki, Trai Hume and Granit Xhaka, and finished 7th. Newcastle placed two, Dan Burn and Joelinton, and finished 12th. Brighton put three in as well across the full list, Dunk, Jan Paul van Hecke and Mats Wieffer, and finished 8th.

The contrast between Spurs and Sunderland is the most useful thing in this data. Both clubs put three players on a discipline leaderboard. Spurs finished 17th with 41 points. Sunderland finished 7th with 54. The difference is not that Sunderland were more disciplined, because the card counts are similar. It is that the bookings did not cost them the same way. A team can be physical, collect cards, and still finish above half the league when the cards come in games it is winning. The same bookings look like a disaster when they arrive for a team that is losing.

That is the honest reading of last season: the cards table is a lagging indicator. It tells you who spent the season chasing the game, not who caused the mess. Everton's three, for a 13th-placed finish on 49 points, fit that reading. A side defending deep for long stretches books more because it is reacting rather than dictating, and the teams on the list that finished outside the top four, from Brentford in ninth to Nott'm Forest in 16th, all fit the same pattern.

How the card count works: yellows, reds and the list you are looking at

The leaderboard counts every card. A yellow is one card, a red is one card, and the two are listed separately because a red carries a heavier price in a single match. On the combined count, Garner's 12 cards were the most on the list, and Romero's 11, ten yellows plus the red, were second, despite him playing 15 fewer games than Garner. [15 fewer: 38-23=15. Good.]

It is also worth reading the list against the league table rather than in isolation. The man who finished second on the discipline list, Romero, played for the team that finished 17th. The leaders at Aston Villa, Fulham and Leeds, Matty Cash, Saša Lukić and Ethan Ampadu, all played for clubs that finished between 4th and 14th. Cards are spread across the table, which is another way of saying discipline is not a quality that predicts where you finish. Sunderland finished 7th with three players on the list. Spurs finished 17th with three players on the list. The cards were the same; the contexts were not.

FAQ

Who got the most yellow cards in the 2025/26 Premier League?

James Garner, with 12 yellows and no reds in 38 appearances for Everton. No other player reached 11.

Who was sent off in the 2025/26 Premier League?

On the cards leaderboard, three players were sent off, each exactly once: Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominik Szoboszlai.

How many cards did Cristian Romero get last season?

He finished with 10 yellows and one red in 23 appearances, the worst card rate of anyone near the top of the leaderboard.

Which clubs had the most players on the cards list last season?

Spurs, Everton and Sunderland each placed three players in the top 25. Spurs finished 17th, Everton 13th and Sunderland 7th.

Key takeaways

• James Garner collected the most cards in the 2025/26 Premier League with 12 yellows and no reds.
• Six players finished on 10 yellows: Romero, Burn, Dunk, Fernández, Joelinton and Ampadu.
• Romero, van de Ven and Szoboszlai were the only players on the list sent off, each once.
• Romero's 11 cards in 23 appearances was the worst card rate among the leaders.
• Spurs, Everton and Sunderland each put three players on the leaderboard and finished 17th, 13th and 7th respectively.