Premier League star shown bizarre yellow card for heart-warming moment with young fans

03/21/2025 09:45 AM

Nottingham Forest star Chris Wood was shown a yellow card in bizarre circumstances playing for New Zealand.

The 33-year-old has been in remarkable form for Forest this season, playing an integral role in their rise up the Premier League table.

Nuno Espirito Santo's side currently sit third behind Liverpool and Arsenal, on course for Champions League qualification with Woods's 18 league goals driving them towards that dream.

The striker maintained that superb run of form on international duty in the early hours of Friday morning, bagging a  hat-trick in the 7-0 win over Fiji in the semi-finals of the 2026 Oceania World Cup qualifiers.

Kiwis manager Darren Bazeley subbed off his star man after his third goal on the 60 minute mark, coming off to a huge ovation around the Wellington Regional Stadium.

On his way off, Wood stopped to lap up the moment, hopping over the railings in front of the stands to sign a few autographs for some young fans in attendance.

But referee Norbert Nautata was not impressed, immediately producing a yellow card.

A smiling Wood then returned to the New Zealand bench to watch his side see out a dominant win.

New Zealand will now meet New Caledonia in the World Cup Oceania qualifier final on Monday with the winners set to confirm their place in next summer's tournament in north America.

Wood will then return to the UK with Forest returning to action in their FA Cup quarter-final clash with Brighton on 28 March before hosting Manchester United in the Premier League three days later.

Wins over Manchester City and Ipswich have seen Forest open up a five-point gap between themselves and fourth place Chelsea with nine games of the season  remaining.

'It's fantastic and I'm glad I've been able to do it. I've always believed I could do it but I've had a great team around me to be able to do it,' Wood told Forest's official website this week.

'We've done extremely we'll and we'll continue to do that; there's a lot we want to achieve this season.

'It's nice to have had a season like this; things are working out perfectly.

'There's a lot more I want to achieve in football, I want to achieve as much as possible, I believe age is just a number and I'm hoping I've proven that.

'There's a lot more to come from me; you never know when your best time is going to happen.

'Hopefully I can hit the 20 (goal) mark, then the 25 mark, there's the 100 club I'd love to be apart of. Then I want to score as many as I can for New Zealand, get to the 50 mark and 100 appearances for New Zealand would be lovely.'