UEFA’s Respect Fair Play ranking, based on all UEFA competition matches played at both club and national team level, from 1 May 2011 to 30 April 2012, has been won by Norway.
Winners Norway, second-placed Finland and third-placed the Netherlands will each be granted one additional slot to the first qualifying round of the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League.
For the final ranking, only associations having played a minimum of 35 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, behavior 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 license will be able to participate in the UEFA Europa League.