May 8 – ‘Nice guys come last’, so the saying goes, but in UEFA’s world being a good corporate citizen wins your country an additional Europa League place.
UEFA’s latest Respect Fair Play ranking has been topped by the Netherlands followed by England and Northern Ireland who will all now be granted an additional slot to the 2015/16 Europa League qualifying rounds.
The scoring system is based on red and yellow cards as well as respect towards opponents, officials and staff behaviour. Fan behaviour is also taken into account – though only in the stadia, which would have worked in England’s favour after Chelsea fans disgraced themselves on the Paris Metro prior to the club’s Champions League tie.
The teams that are eligible for the Europa League places are those that top their own national fair play rankings.
In England’s case that will likely be West Ham who currently lie second in the ranking behind Liverpool – Liverpool will likely qualify for the Europa League via a probably fifth placed league finish.
West Ham have a current fair play score of 281.25. Everton are in third place with 278.25, followed by Manchester City and Burnley in fifth. Should Burnley have a run of outstandingly good behaviour in their final three matches of the season they could find themselves relegated from the Premier League but rewarded with European competition.
This is the last season that the fair play rankings will dish out Europa League spots to the winners. From the 2015/16 season, the associations ranked highest – in each of the three categories of Overall fair play; Improvement in overall fair play score from one season to the next; and behaviour of spectators – will win cash prizes that can be awarded to amateur or professional clubs of their choice, or for fair play or respect-themed projects.
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