A white card has been issued for the primary time in a soccer match in Portugal.

The card was proven throughout a girls’s cup match between Sporting Lisbon and Benfica on Saturday after medical employees from each golf equipment rushed to assist a fan who had fainted within the stands as Benfica led 3-0 in the course of the first half.

Referee Catarina Campos then confirmed the cardboard to each groups.

The gesture recognises and praises acts of honest play.

Fans on the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon had been heard cheering and applauding the choice.

The playing cards had been launched as a part of an initiative of Portugal’s National Plan for Ethics in Sport to encourage honest play and have been adopted by the Portuguese Football Federation.

So far solely Portugal has adopted the white card.

They distinction yellow and purple playing cards that are used to self-discipline gamers for misconduct.

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Benfica gained 5-0 to progress to the semi-finals.

The match additionally set a brand new attendance document for girls’s soccer in Portugal, with 15,032 followers displaying up, beating the earlier document of 14,221 seen in May final yr.

While using the white card within the match on Saturday was celebrated, it stays to be seen how followers will react to their implementation if they’re used extra broadly.

It comes after a FIFA directive noticed stoppage time added on the finish of every half for “unnatural lost time” in the course of the Qatar World Cup.

Stoppages had been added for time-wasting by gamers, therapy for accidents, prolonged aim celebrations, substitutions, VAR interventions and yellow or purple playing cards.