In soccer, a team has to play the rest of the match with one fewer player after a red card. The sent-off player cannot be replaced, so the team stays down a man until full time.

What that means

  • A red card removes the player immediately.
  • The team continues with 10 players instead of 11.
  • The disadvantage lasts for all remaining minutes of that game.

Important distinction

The red-carded player is usually also suspended for the next match, but that is a separate punishment from the in-game man disadvantage.

Simple example

If a player is sent off in the 20th minute, the team plays the remaining 70 minutes with 10 players.

TL;DR: a team plays man down for the rest of that match, not for a fixed number of minutes.