What are the yellow and red cards for in kho-kho?
A · Advanced · Fouls, ties and officials · 1 of 3A yellow card is a formal warning and a red card removes a player from the rest of the match and from the team's next match. They are for misbehaviour: pushing, pulling or hitting an opponent on purpose, obstructing play, abusing officials or opponents and coaching from outside the ground.
How it works
- Misbehaviour on the field: deliberate pushing, catching, pulling (even by the uniform) or hitting.
- Obstruction: a seated chaser must sit so as not to obstruct defenders. Tilting a shoulder or thigh towards a defender running close by is a foul, and doing it deliberately brings a warning.
- Conduct offences: persistently questioning decisions, derogatory remarks to officials or opponents, trying to influence decisions, coaching from outside the ground and leaving without the referee's leave.
- Minor offence: a verbal warning, then a yellow card if repeated.
- Serious offence: a red card.
- Yellow card: announced by chest number and recorded by the scorer.
- Two yellows in a match: out of that match and the next one.
- Yellows in two different matches: out of the next match.
- Red card: out of the rest of the match and the next match. The player is replaced and leaves the arena.
- A defender shown red: is declared out as well.
The glossary has the misbehaviour offence, the yellow card and red card, the obstruction by a chaser, the referee, the chaser and the out call.
Tricky cases
A seated chaser leans a shoulder out as a defender runs past the central lane. What is the call?
A foul. A chaser found to be doing it deliberately is warned. A defender who is out because of the obstruction is not declared out.
An attacker grabs a defender's shirt to make the tag. Is the defender out?
No. Catching or pulling, even by the uniform, is misbehaviour. A touch made by breaking a rule does not put the defender out.
A player has a yellow card from the last match and gets another today. What happens?
The player misses the next match of the tournament.
A red-carded chaser leaves. Does the team play short?
No. The book says such a player "shall be immediately replaced".
Why the rule exists
Kho-kho is a non-contact game played at sprint speed in a crowded space, so deliberate contact is dangerous as well as unfair. The cards deal with what the foul whistle cannot: behaviour that is aimed at a person, or at the officials, and not at winning the chase.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minor offence | Verbal warning; yellow card on repetition | KKFI Club Rules Part 5.4a |
| Serious offence | Red card | KKFI Club Rules Part 5.4b |
| Two yellow cards in one match | Out of the match and the next | KKFI Club Rules Part 5.4, note |
| Red card | Out of the match and the next; replaced | KKFI Club Rules Part 4.1C; Part 5.4, note |
| A team official misbehaving | The referee acts according to the gravity of the offence | KKFI Club Rules Part 5.3 |
From the rule book
Kho Kho Federation of India, National Club Games Rule Book: Kho-Kho (undated), Part 2 (rules 11 and 14), Part 4 (rule 1) and Part 5 (rules 3 and 4). Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: the federation's rule book of kho-kho (current edition not published; the National Club Games rule book was used).