The UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking was used by UEFA from 1995 to the 2015–16 season to grant three berths for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since that time it has granted a monetary prize to winning associations.
Qualification system 1995–1998 The three highest-performing associations in the UEFA Fair Play ranking were given an extra UEFA Cup berth for the best-finishing team in their top division who have not qualified for the following season's UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup or UEFA Cup. Which round the teams started from depended on their association's UEFA coefficient.
1999–2008 The highest-finishing club in the Fair Play rankings of a qualifying association, not yet participating in either the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Cup (the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup became defunct after 1998–99), were potential contenders for the three remaining berths. The club from the association which won the Fair Play ranking qualified automatically for the First Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup. The two other associations were drawn from the rest that have reached the threshold of minimum games and had a score of at least 8.0.
2009–2015 The three highest placed national associations in the UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking each automatically gained an extra qualification berth for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, providing they exceeded the threshold of games played, and had a minimum average score of 8.0. These berths were then allocated to the highest placed club in that association's own Fair Play league that had not yet qualified a UEFA competition.
2015–present Based upon a UEFA Executive Committee decision, approved in December 2014, from the 2015–16 season onwards, Fair Play no longer grants entry to the Europa League, instead only netting the victorious association a cash prize to be put towards "fair play or respect-themed projects". It is assessed on three categories: overall fair play, year-on-year fair play (most improved association) and spectator behaviour, with each association being scored and an association being declared the winner for each category. No association can win more than one category, meaning that on receiving one category award, an association becomes ineligible to win either of the other two, with the three categories being ranked in importance so that it can be determined which category takes preference.
Ranking All representative teams from a football association are responsible for the score of the Fair Play ranking of that association. This includes matches of all national teams and all clubs in all UEFA competitions. The ranking assessment period was also changed in 2015, and is now from 1 July to 30 June the following year. For the transitional season of 2015–16, the ranking assessment period covered all matches between 1 May 2015 and 30 June 2016).
Criteria
Teams are judged on the following criteria: Yellow and red cards: If no cards are shown the score will be 10. Every yellow card will deduct this total by 1. A red card will cost a team 3 points in the ranking. If the red card is the result of a second yellow card, the deductions of the second yellow card will be ignored. But if a player gets a direct red card after he got a yellow card earlier, the yellow card will be counted as a deduction. This score could become negative. Positive play: e.g. attacking tactics, acceleration of the game, efforts to gain time, and continued pursuit of goals. A team can score a maximum of 10 points and a minimum of 1 point Respect to the opponent: e.g. returning the ball to the opponent at a throw-in, helping an injured opponent: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point Respect to the referee: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point Behaviour of the team officials: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point Behaviour of the fans: maximum 5 points, minimum 1 point NB: this criterion is ignored when the number of fans is negligible e.g. if there are no fans at all or because of penalty that was given by the UEFA
The total number of points are divided by the maximum number of points, 40 (or 35 if there are a negligible number of fans), and multiplied by 10 which will result in a score between 0 and 10. The score is calculated to two decimal points and not rounded up.
2014–15 final ranking The ranking below covers matches from 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2015 and is the final ranking.
The top three associations (Netherlands, England, Republic of Ireland) gained an extra qualification berth for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.
RankMember associationTotal pointsMatches played 1 Netherlands8.151110 2 England8.146160 3 Republic of Ireland8.14466 4 Finland8.14168 5 Denmark8.12888 6 Germany8.123146 7 Norway8.11371 8 Iceland8.08953 9 Sweden8.08711010 Scotland8.0839511 Spain8.03915912 Austria8.0157113 Northern Ireland8.0034714 Switzerland8.0019615 Belgium7.96710716 France7.96011517 Italy7.95314718 Czech Republic7.9287519 Wales7.9245220 Poland7.9117221 Kazakhstan7.8795922 Russia7.87212623 Faroe Islands7.8684324 Armenia7.8647225 Slovenia7.8487126 Israel7.8435527 Lithuania7.8245528 Romania7.8118029 Cyprus7.7906930 Portugal7.76812831 Slovakia7.7657632 Croatia7.7608633 Estonia7.7535234 Serbia7.7497635 Bosnia and Herzegovina7.7425536 Hungary7.7386837 Ukraine7.70012238 Greece7.6948439 Georgia7.6844540 Belarus7.6788341 Moldova7.6425342 Turkey7.6159043 Malta7.6004544 Montenegro7.5924445 Latvia7.5654946 Macedonia7.5005147 Azerbaijan7.4415948 Albania7.3483850 Gibraltar7.8092151 Liechtenstein7.7671852 Luxembourg7.7202453 San Marino7.4852454 Andorra6.92232
Cut-off: 37 matches played Group 1: 37 or more matches played; Group 2: fewer than 37 matches played.
Winners (1995–2015) The UEFA Fair Play winners in the rankings by year since 1995 to 2015 were:
YearFirst associationNominated teamSecond associationNominated teamThird associationNominated teamReferences1995 Norway Viking England Leeds United Luxembourg Avenir Beggen 1996 Sweden Malmö Russia CSKA Moscow Finland Jazz Pori 1997 Norway Brann England Aston Villa Sweden Örebro 1998 England Aston Villa Finland FinnPa Norway Molde YearTop associationNominated teamDrawnReferencesAssociationNominated teamAssociationNominated team1999 Scotland Kilmarnock Norway Bodø/Glimt Estonia JK Viljandi Tulevik 2000 Sweden Norrköping Belgium Lierse Spain Rayo Vallecano 2001 Belarus Shakhtyor Finland MYPA Slovakia Matador Púchov 2002 Norway SK Brann England Ipswich Town Czech Republic Sigma Olomouc 2003 England Manchester City France Lens Denmark Esbjerg 2004 Sweden Öster Armenia Mika Ukraine Illichivets Mariupol 2005 Norway Viking Germany Mainz 05 Denmark Esbjerg 2006 Sweden Gefle Belgium Roeselare Norway Brann 2007 Sweden Häcken Finland MYPA Norway Lillestrøm 2008 England Manchester City Germany Hertha BSC Denmark Nordsjælland YearTop associationNominated teamSecond associationNominated teamThird associationNominated teamReferences2009 Norway Rosenborg Denmark Randers Scotland Motherwell 2010 Sweden Gefle Denmark Randers Finland MYPA (a) 2011 Norway Aalesund England Fulham Sweden Häcken 2012 Norway Stabæk Finland MYPA Netherlands Twente 2013 Sweden Gefle Norway Tromsø Finland Mariehamn 2014 Norway Tromsø Sweden Brommapojkarna Finland MYPA 2015 Netherlands Go Ahead Eagles England West Ham United Republic of Ireland UCD
Notes: Teams that performed the best in a given year when compared to the other two Fair Play qualifiers, either by advancing further or earning more points, are listed in italic. (a): Both Randers and MYPA made to the 3rd Qualification round however MYPA had more wins in the tournament.
Most wins
By association RankAssociation1st2nd3rd1 Norway8232 Sweden7123 England3504 Netherlands101 Scotland1016 Belarus1007 Finland0448 Denmark0239 Belgium020 Germany02011 Armenia010 France010 Russia01014 Czech Republic001 Estonia001 Luxembourg001 Republic of Ireland001 Slovakia001 Spain001 Ukraine001 Total 21 21 21
By team RankTeam1st2nd3rd1 Gefle3002 Brann2013 Manchester City200 Viking2005 Tromsø1106 Aston Villa1107 Häcken101 Malmö100 Kilmarnock100 Norrköping100 Shakhtyor100 Öster100 Rosenborg100 Aalesund100 Stabæk100 Go Ahead Eagles10017 MYPA03218 Randers020
Best performances The furthest that a team progressed from a fair-play entry was the quarter-finals, achieved by Aston Villa (1997–98), Rayo Vallecano (2000–01) and Manchester City (2008–09), with Manchester City being the only team to have progressed beyond the group stage since this was introduced in 2004–05.
Winners (since 2015–16 season) The UEFA Fair Play winners by category in the rankings (with updated format) are: SeasonOverall fair playBest spectatorsBest progressionPrize moneyReference2015–16 Norway Estonia Belarus€50,000 for each2016–17 Iceland Finland Georgia2017–18 Finland Faroe Islands Northern Ireland€50,000 for each2018–19 Georgia
See also UEFA coefficient
Notes
References