Punishments
IHF · 2025Yellow, two minutes, red and blue · Important distinctions
Yellow, two minutes, red and blue
A yellow card warns. A player receives at most one warning; players of a team collectively receive at most three. Serious offences can bring an immediate suspension or disqualification. A two-minute suspension reduces the team on court; a player’s third suspension means disqualification. A red card excludes the person for the remainder and normally reduces the team for two minutes. Further misconduct before the restart can extend the reduction to four minutes. A blue card after red means a written report, not an extra playing-time penalty.
Important distinctions
Under the 2025 rules, a seven-metre shot hitting the goalkeeper’s head, without the goalkeeper moving it towards the ball to block, brings two minutes, not an automatic red. The same sanction covers the specified unhindered open-play head shot, with no defender between shooter and keeper and the head contacted first. A final-signal free throw hitting a defender’s head has a similar exception for deliberate movement to block. In the last 30 seconds, specified throw-prevention offences with the ball out of play, or specified serious offences with it in play, can mean red plus seven metres. An ordinary foul is not automatically covered; no seven-metre throw follows if advantage produces a goal.
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