WILLEMSTAD (DA) — Jürgen Locadia’s red card against Scotland is expected to cost him Curaçao’s friendly against Aruba, but his FIFA World Cup status is likely not affected if the case remains a normal friendly-match suspension.
Locadia was sent off in the 38th minute of Scotland’s 4-1 win over Curaçao at Hampden Park after a video assistant referee (VAR) review. The Scottish Football Association’s official Scotland National Team account listed the red card as serious foul play.
That public description is important, but the official match report will control the final disciplinary process.
Under Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) rules, a sending-off automatically brings a suspension from the next match. Because Locadia’s red card came in a friendly, the key rule is how FIFA handles suspensions from friendly matches.
Article 69 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, September 2025 edition, says match suspensions from a sending-off outside a competition are carried over by match type. For friendly matches, the suspension is “carried over to the representative team’s next friendly match.”
Curaçao’s next match is a friendly against Aruba. The World Cup matches come later.
That means Aruba is expected to be the first match affected by Locadia’s red card. If the suspension is longer than one match, the remaining punishment would normally continue through future friendlies, not automatically move into the World Cup.
In plain language: a red card in a friendly usually stays with friendlies.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which writes the Laws of the Game, defines serious foul play as a tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality.
Serious foul play is a red-card offense. But it is not automatically the same as violent conduct, assault, spitting, biting, discrimination or misconduct toward a match official.
That distinction matters because FIFA sets different punishments for different offenses.
Article 14 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code says serious foul play carries a suspension of “at least two matches.” Violent conduct carries “at least three matches.” Assault, including elbowing, punching, kicking, biting, spitting at or hitting an opponent or another person who is not a match official, also carries at least three matches or an appropriate period of time.
So the official label matters. If the match report confirms serious foul play, the case falls under one category. If it describes the incident as something more severe, FIFA could treat it differently.
That is the caveat.
The FIFA Disciplinary Code says disciplinary measures may be limited to a geographical area or to one or more specific categories of match or competition. That means FIFA can decide how narrow or broad a punishment should be.
A suspension can be limited to friendlies. But if the official match report or a later FIFA review classifies the incident as something more serious, FIFA could impose a stronger or broader sanction.
That does not mean the World Cup is automatically at risk. It means Locadia’s World Cup status depends on the official classification of the red card and FIFA’s disciplinary decision.
Based on the public classification so far, Locadia’s red card has been described as serious foul play, not as an exceptionally serious offense such as violent conduct, assault on a match official, spitting, biting or discrimination.
If that classification holds, Aruba is expected to be the first match he misses, and his World Cup status is likely not affected by a normal friendly-match suspension.
The remaining question is whether FIFA keeps the case on that normal friendly-match path or treats it more broadly.