Which football match holds the record for the most red cards?

The record for dismissals in a single game belongs not to the feisty Campeonato Mineiro final between Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro – where 23 reds were brandished – but to an Argentine fifth-tier fixture that descended into a “Generalised Brawl” in 2011. Referee Damián Rubino sent off every player, substitute and bench member: 36 in total, 18 from each side, during the Primera D meeting between Club Atlético Claypole and Victoriano Arenas on 27 February 2011. The previous benchmark had been 20 reds in a 2002 Paraguayan match; Brazil’s recent 12-11 “win” in the card count merely nudged the global curiosity without threatening the Guinness-recognised mark set in Claypole’s Estadio Rodolfo Capocasa.