In the 2011 Copa América, the main disciplinary action taken against players came in the form of red and yellow cards.

Any player picking up a red card was expelled from the pitch and automatically banned for his country's next match, whether via a straight red or second yellow. After a straight red card, FIFA would conduct a hearing and could extend this ban beyond one match. If the ban extended beyond the end of the finals (i.e. if a player was sent off in the match in which his team was eliminated), it had to be served in the team's next competitive international match(es).

• Total number of yellow cards: 128
• Average yellow cards per match: 4.92
• Total number of red cards: 14
• Average red cards per match: 0.54
• First yellow card: Wálter Flores (Bolivia against Argentina)
• First red card: Randall Brenes (Costa Rica against Colombia)
• Fastest yellow card from kick off: 1 minute (Luis Advíncula; Peru against Colombia and Yoshimar Yotún; Peru against Uruguay)
• Fastest yellow card after coming on as substitute: 1 minutes (Édgar Barreto and Elvis Marecos; both Paraguay against Brazil)
• Latest yellow card in a match without extra time: 90+4 minutes (Franklin Lucena; Venezuela against Brazil)
• Fastest dismissal from kick off: 28 minutes (Randall Brenes; Costa Rica against Colombia)
• Fastest dismissal of a substitute: None
• Latest dismissal in a match without extra time: 90+4 minutes (Tomás Rincón; Venezuela against Chile)
• Latest dismissal in a match with extra time: 103 minutes (Antolín Alcaraz; Paraguay against Brazil and Lucas Leiva; Brazil against Paraguay)
• Least time difference between two yellow cards given to the same player: 5 minutes (Ronald Rivero; Bolivia against Costa Rica)
• Most yellow cards (team): 18 (Uruguay)
• Most red cards (team): 2 (Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela)
• Fewest yellow cards (team): 2 (Ecuador)
• Most yellow cards (player): 4 (Martín Cáceres)
• Most red cards (player): 2 (Tomás Rincón)
• Most yellow cards (match): 11 (Argentina against Uruguay)
• Most red cards (match): 2 (Bolivia against Costa Rica; Chile against Peru; Argentina against Uruguay; Brazil against Paraguay and Chile against Venezuela)
• Fewest yellow cards (match): 0 (Venezuela against Ecuador)
• Most cards in one match: 11 yellow cards and 2 red cards (Argentina against Uruguay)

Day	Match	Round	Referee	Total cards	Yellow	Second yellow	Straight red
Day 01	Argentina vs Bolivia	Group A	Roberto Silvera	6	6	0	0
Day 02	Colombia vs Costa Rica	Group A	Enrique Osses	6	5	0	1
Day 03	Brazil vs Venezuela	Group B	Raúl Orosco	4	4	0	0
Day 03	Paraguay vs Ecuador	Group B	Sergio Pezzotta	2	2	0	0
Day 04	Uruguay vs Peru	Group C	Wilmar Roldán	5	5	0	0
Day 04	Chile vs Mexico	Group C	Juan Soto	5	5	0	0
Day 05	Argentina vs Colombia	Group A	Sálvio Fagundes	3	3	0	0
Day 05	Bolivia vs Costa Rica	Group A	Carlos Vera	11	9	1	1
Day 06	Uruguay vs Chile	Group C	Carlos Amarilla	9	9	0	0
Day 06	Peru vs Mexico	Group C	Sergio Pezzotta	2	2	0	0
Day 07	Brazil vs Paraguay	Group B	Wilmar Roldán	6	6	0	0
Day 07	Venezuela vs Ecuador	Group B	Wálter Quesada	0	0	0	0
Day 08	Colombia vs Bolivia	Group A	Francisco Chacón	1	1	0	0
Day 09	Argentina vs Costa Rica	Group A	Víctor Hugo Rivera	6	6	0	0
Day 010	Chile vs Peru	Group C	Sálvio Fagundes	8	6	0	2
Day 010	Uruguay vs Mexico	Group C	Raúl Orosco	4	4	0	0
Day 011	Paraguay vs Venezuela	Group B	Enrique Osses	4	4	0	0
Day 011	Brazil vs Ecuador	Group B	Roberto Silvera	3	3	0	0
Day 014	Colombia vs Peru	Quarter-finals	Francisco Chacón	3	3	0	0
Day 014	Argentina vs Uruguay	Quarter-finals	Carlos Amarilla	13	11	2	0
Day 015	Brazil vs Paraguay	Quarter-finals	Sergio Pezzotta	8	6	0	2
Day 015	Chile vs Venezuela	Quarter-finals	Carlos Vera	9	7	1	1
Day 017	Peru vs Uruguay	Semi-finals	Raúl Orosco	7	6	0	1
Day 018	Paraguay vs Venezuela	Semi-finals	Francisco Chacón	5	4	1	0
Day 021	Peru vs Venezuela	Third place match	Wilmar Roldán	6	5	0	1
Day 022	Uruguay vs Paraguay	Final	Sálvio Fagundes	6	6	0	0

Referee	Matches	Red	Yellow	Red cards	Penalties awarded
Carlos Vera	2	4	16	2 straight reds 2 second yellows	1
Carlos Amarilla	2	2	20	2 second yellows	0
Sálvio Fagundes	3	2	15	2 straight reds	0
Sergio Pezzotta	3	2	10	2 straight reds	0
Wilmar Roldán	3	1	16	1 straight red	0
Raúl Orosco	3	1	14	1 straight red	0
Enrique Osses	2	1	9	1 straight red	0
Francisco Chacón	3	1	8	1 second yellow	2
Roberto Silvera	2	0	9		0
Víctor Hugo Rivera	1	0	6		0
Juan Soto	1	0	5		0
Wálter Quesada	1	0	0		0

Team	Yellow	Red	Red Cards	Reason
Paraguay	15	2	Antolín Alcaraz vs Brazil straight red Jonathan Santana vs Venezuela second yellow	misconduct tactical foul
Peru	15	2	Giancarlo Carmona vs Chile straight red Juan Manuel Vargas vs Uruguay straight red	fighting elbowing an opponent
Chile	12	2	Jean Beausejour vs Peru straight red Gary Medel vs Venezuela second yellow	fighting handling the ball
Bolivia	11	2	Ronald Rivero vs Costa Rica second yellow Wálter Flores vs Costa Rica straight red	handling the ball tackling
Venezuela	11	2	Tomás Rincón vs Chile straight red and vs Peru straight red	shirt pulling + swinging a fist at opponent tackling
Uruguay	18	1	Diego Pérez vs Argentina second yellow	tactical foul
Argentina	14	1	Javier Mascherano vs Uruguay second yellow	tackling
Brazil	8	1	Lucas Leiva vs Paraguay straight red	misconduct
Costa Rica	8	1	Randall Brenes vs Colombia straight red	tackling
Mexico	9	0
Colombia	5	0
Ecuador	2	0

99 red cards

Tomás Rincón

1 red card

4 yellow cards

Martín Cáceres

3 yellow cards

2 yellow cards

1 yellow card

The Fair Play Award was given to the team with the best overall discipline throughout the tournament. Teams were given a certain number of points—15 in the first stage, 5 in the quarter-finals, and 10 points for the remaining four teams—from which points were deducted depending on the infraction. The team that advanced past the first stage with the most points was awarded the trophy. Teams that dropped below zero points were excluded from winning the award.^[1]

The four semi-finalists (Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela) were the only teams considered for the Fair Play Award. After a post-match brawl in the semi-finals, Paraguay and Venezuela were excluded from winning the award. Peru and Uruguay finished the tournament with the same number of points. Since Uruguay had fewer players handed a red card during the tournament, they won the Fair Play Award.^[2]

Team	IP	D1	D2	D3	BP	QF	BP	SF	3/F	Total
Paraguay	15	−4	−5	−2	+5	−7	+10	X	X	N/A
Peru	15	−4	−0	−7	+5	−2	+10	−6	−3	8
Uruguay	15	−1	−6	−2	+5	−5	+10	−3	−5	8
Venezuela	15	−5	−0	−2	+5	−5	+10	X	X	N/A