Each team may continue to play with seven field players. Starting with eleven, that means four of them may be sent off and still continue. Further, substitutes and substituted players may be sent off, but this does not affect the total number of field players. A team may nominate up to seven substitutes to sit on their bench, and the game may lawfully continue if all seven are sent off, for a total of eleven per team, and a grand total of twenty-two.
A soccer match absolutely must be stopped if 23 people have been sent off and shown the red card, with the assumptions listed above.
The fewest red cards that may force a match to be stopped is 5, reducing a single team to six field players.
Note that the referee may terminate or abandon the match at any time, and will most likely do so long before this level is reached. Also, it is possible for the referee to continue showing red cards after the match has been terminated or abandoned. This means that it is technically possible for 36 red cards to be shown before, during, and after a given match.
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The rules in Rugby are pretty wide on this - I have directly quaoted the IRB rule 3.3 WHEN THERE ARE FEWER THEAN FIFTEEN PLAYERS
"A Union may authorise matches to be played with fewer than fifteen players in each team.
When that happens, all the Laws of the Game apply except that each team must have at
least five players in the scrum at all times.
Exception: matches between teams of Seven-a-side are an exception. These matches are
covered by the Seven-a-side Variations to the Laws of the Game."
technically everyone can. In South Africa in the 70's the now famous "90" call was used when one of the lions was in conflict. The remainder of the team jumped in. This was a strategy devised by the players to ensure that if one was red carded all 15 would have to go as well.
There are many records across the rugby world of teams who have local derby high tension matches where the referee and officials have sent off all the plays and reported them for the offence of ungentlemanly conduct ( having a punch up) .
10 is the usual minimum number to play a match as set by the RFU. therefore if 5 are red carded then the referee may continue unless they believe it unsafe to do so
4 players. Once the 5th player is sent off, the team falls below the required 7 players on the field to continue the match.