NYON, Switzerland (AP) — England finish first fair play UEFA announced on Tuesday the rankings of national teams and club teams in last season’s European football competitions.
UEFA’s formula evaluated England’s team over 241 matches played last season and found that they averaged more points than Slovakia in second place and Finland in third place.
For each match it hosts, UEFA sends representatives to evaluate teams in five categories: red and yellow cards and respect for opponents. Respect for referees, attitude of team officials, attitude of spectators.
UEFA’s rulebook suggests positive points for “helping an injured opposition player” and “informing the referee whether a corner or throw-in should have gone to the opposing team”, but points will be deducted for incidents such as wasting time, “acting or simulating an injury” and even “inciting a group clash.”
In the ranking of the best-behaved spectators, fans from the Faroe Islands topped the list, followed by Moldova and Kazakhstan.
Albania’s team and fans finished last in the table of countries that had played enough official UEFA games to qualify.
UEFA said Moldova was also the country that improved the most in terms of overall fair play scores.
UEFA will award each of the three winners a prize of 50,000 euros (approximately $58,000), which will be donated to “an amateur or professional club of their choice for a project on the theme of fair play and respect.”
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