France have failed in their bid to have Michael Olise’s yellow card from their win against Paraguay overturned.
The Bayern Munich winger was booked after clashing with Matias Galarza in stoppage time during France’s 1-0 victory in a fiery last-16 match in Philadelphia.
Galarza fell to the ground after Olise grabbed his shirt during the altercation.
Olise, who has five assists at the 2026 World Cup, would miss his country’s semi-final against Spain or Belgium if France manage to beat Morocco in their quarter-final on Thursday (21:00 BST) and he receives another yellow card.
“The yellow card has not changed. We were notified by Fifa this morning, it has been maintained,” said France manager Didier Deschamps on Wednesday prior to the game at Boston Stadium.
Olise’s bookings stands, despite Fifa suspending a red card for United States striker Folarin Balogun at the tournament which meant he was available for a last-16 tie against Belgium.
Bradley Barcola and Manu Kone were also booked for France against Paraguay, who did not receive any yellow cards from referee Ilgiz Tantashev during the match.
Paraguay’s Gustavo Velazquez attempted to scuff the penalty spot before Kylian Mbappe put away the spot-kick for the winner, while France defender Dayot Upamecano received an elbow in the ribs from Gabriel Avalos and Andres Cubas went through Les Bleus midfielder Adrien Rabiot with a poor tackle.
Former England keeper Joe Hart said the South American side had “gone way too far” with some of their antics in the match, while fellow BBC Sport pundit Thomas Hitzlsperger said it was “probably the worse referee performance I’ve seen at this tournament”.
In the aftermath of the match, Mbappe condemned a Paraguayan senator as “despicable” and unworthy of her position after she made a number of racist remarks mocking his origin and education.
