I am leading my league in fouls just wondering if there is a rating for that.

There's no obvious or hidden rating as such. From observation, a player is more likely to foul if his defensive ratings are low, obviously for instance if he has poor tackling. Number of fouls also depends on position played.

Fouls themselves are not, IMO, a big deal, other than the fact that when you foul the opposition retains possession of the ball. Even yellow cards are not that big a problem - TO ME - as long as a player does not tend to pile up too many of them, since two in one game equals a red.

I try to stay away from players who red card, no matter how skilled they may be. Going a man down is just too much to handle unless your team is much stronger than the opposition.

And one thing we do know is that players' tendency to yellow and red is governed in part by a hidden rating. This was discussed in a long-lost developer chat somewhere, I am sure of it.

stews, in your particular case, being a startup team, you shouldn't really worry about your fouls. Observe and learn the game, build your stadium and pile up cash, don't sign any players long term and work toward acquiring better players in your second season.

I have noticed that the teams at the top of the league standings often rank near the bottom in fouls committed.  The opposite is often true for teams near the bottom of the standings.  Going off of what damag observed, it would appear that players with higher skill ratings are less likely to foul because these are the sorts of players that the top teams would own.

To be honest, when I'm scouting players I never actually look at how many fouls they've committed or cards they've accrued.  I focus more on ratings, age, and experience bars and typically like to see a high percentage of a player's shots to be on goal if I anticipate them being a go-to goal scorer.

I try to keep my players that don't card often. Because of the hidden rating that's been discussed it seems like occasionally there is a more skilled player that still has issues with cards. It's the exception it seems not the rule.

As long as you don't get two yellows a game, yellows don't seem to mean a thing. Even red cards don't really seem to have an effect on the game you receive them in. Many times my team has been beating up on an AI team and they recieve a red card and I may score one more goal, but the rout is over. The biggest penalty for a red is having to miss the next game.

I can say that most of the time is based on a hidden attribute, some time I had players that like to get red or two yellow card at same game. Honestly if someone fail me few times in a row get transferred out.