Uefa rule change to have major impact on Man United and City players at Euro 2024

The football season continues this summer for dozens of Manchester City and United players at Euro 2024.

City have a tournament-high 14 players in Germany: Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, Joao Cancelo, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, Rodrigo, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Kyle Walker. United also have eight players at the tournament: Altay Bayindir, Diogo Dalot, Christian Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes, Rasmus Hojlund, Kobbie Mainoo, Scott McTominay and Luke Shaw. Tom Heaton is also with the England squad as a training goalkeeper.

Erik ten Hag and Pep Guardiola will be watching their players closely and hoping they return to Manchester next month injury-free. But suspensions will not overly concern them as yellow and red cards collected during the tournament do not carry over to club games.

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However, the players at these tournaments will be mindful of missing matches for their countries because of them. A new UEFA rule in force at Euro 2024 could significantly influence player behaviour on the pitch.

Only the captain can discuss decisions with the on-field referee during a match. This rule should prevent several players from surrounding the official following contentious incidents.

Referees will enforce the rules if any non-captain player approaches the referee to dispute a decision. Any such player will receive a yellow card.

That means only City's Kevin De Bruyne can approach the referee during games. United captain Bruno Fernandes must also defer to Cristiano Ronaldo while they are both on the pitch together on the pitch rather than taking the lead as he does during club games.

In response, referees will provide more detailed explanations of their decisions to the captain, who can relay this information to his teammates. The change could make for an intriguing tournament, with potentially more yellow cards than ever!