NYON: Holland, England and the Irish Republic will gain an extra place each in the Europa League next season through UEFA’s Respect Fair Play ranking.

The ranking, based on all UEFA competition matches played at both club and national team level, from May 1, 2014 to April 30, 2015, was won by the Dutch with England second and Ireland third.

This is the last time the system will be used. From next year the winners of the rankings will no longer be given places in the Europa League. Instead the associations will be awarded prize money to donate to amateur or professional clubs of its choice, for fair play or respect-themed projects.

For the final ranking, only associations having played a minimum of 37 matches are taken into account. This cut-off point is calculated by dividing the total number of UEFA matches by the number of national associations.

The fair play assessments are made by the official UEFA delegates on criteria such as positive play, respect of the opponent, respect of the referee, behaviour of the crowd and of the team officials, as well as cautions and dismissals.

The three associations which are allocated an additional UEFA Europa League place will be entitled to enter the club that has won the domestic top-division fair play competition.

If this club has already qualified for a UEFA club competition, the second-placed team in the domestic fair play competition may be entered and, should they also have already qualified, the third-placed team would be considered and so forth.

It is even possible for a team that has been relegated to the second highest division to qualify for the UEFA Europa League, as a result of its exemplary fair play conduct during the domestic championship.

Only clubs which have received a UEFA licence will be able to participate in the UEFA Europa League.

As approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 4 December 2014, the new UEFA Fair Play Regulations will enter into force at the  beginning of the 2015/16 season.

As a transitional arrangement, all matches played during the months of May and June 2015 will also be included in the assessment of the 2015/16 season.

Updated assessment methods and a new reward system have been set out in the 2015 edition of the UEFA Fair Play Regulations. Three different fair play rankings will be calculated:

1) Overall fair play: the association with the highest overall fair play score;

2) Improvement in overall fair play score from one season to the next: the association whose overall fair play score has improved the most since the previous season;

3) Behaviour of spectators: the association with the highest final score for this criterion

The UEFA Fair Play and Social Responsibility Committee will decide on the amount of prize money awarded at a later stage.

Attached: UEFA Respect Fair Play final ranking 2014/15 includes matches from : 01/05/2014 to : 30/04/2015

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UEFA Respect Fair Play Final Rankings 2014/15
Position Association Country Code Total Points Matches played
1 NED 8.151 110
2 ENG 8.146 160
3 IRL 8.144 66
4 FIN 8.141 68
5 DEN 8.128 88
6 GER 8.123 146
7 NOR 8.113 71
8 ISL 8.089 53
9 SWE 8.087 110
10 SCO 8.083 95
11 ESP 8.039 159
12 AUT 8.015 71
13 NIR 8.003 47
14 SUI 8.001 96
15 BEL 7.967 107
16 FRA 7.96 115
17 ITA 7.953 147
18 CZE 7.928 75
19 WAL 7.924 52
20 POL 7.911 72
21 KAZ 7.879 59
22 RUS 7.872 126
23 FRO 7.868 43
24 BUL 7.864 72
25 SVN 7.848 71
26 ISR 7.843 55
27 LTU 7.824 55
28 ROU 7.811 80
29 CYP 7.79 69
30 POR 7.768 128
31 SVK 7.765 76
32 CRO 7.76 86
33 EST 7.753 52
34 SRB 7.749 76
35 BIH 7.742 55
36 HUN 7.738 68
37 UKR 7.7 122
38 GRE 7.694 84
39 GEO 7.684 45
40 BLR 7.678 83
41 MDA 7.642 53
42 TUR 7.615 90
43 MLT 7.6 45
44 MNE 7.592 44
45 LVA 7.565 49
46 MKD 7.5 51
47 AZE 7.441 59
48 ALB 7.348 38
49 ARM 7.822 29
50 GIB 7.809 21
32
51 LIE 7.767 18
52 LUX 7.72 24
Total Matches: 1995
Group 1: 37 or more matches played, Group 2: less than 37 matches played
Cut-off: 37 matches played
53 SMR 7.485 24
54 AND 6.922