Norway, Sweden, Finland lead UEFA Respect Fair Play rankings

PanARMENIAN.Net - Norway, Sweden and Finland head the intermediate UEFA Respect Fair Play rankings, leading the race for three additional slots in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League qualifiers, according to UEFA's official website.

Norway currently head UEFA's Respect Fair Play rankings, based on all UEFA competition matches played at club and national team levels from May 1, 2012 to April 30, 2013.

Taking into account matches up until December 31, 2012, frontrunners Norway, second-placed Sweden and Finland in third are leading the race for the three additional slots in the first qualifying round of the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League.

For the current intermediate rankings, only associations that have played a minimum of 27 games are taken into consideration. This cut-off point is calculated by dividing the total number of UEFA fixtures by the number of UEFA member national associations.

As defined in the club competition regulations, the three extra places in the UEFA Europa League will go automatically to the three best-placed national associations in the Respect Fair Play standings, provided they attained an average of 8.0 points or more. The Respect Fair Play assessments are made by the official UEFA delegates, based on criteria such as positive play, respect for the opponent, respect for the referee, behaviour of the crowd and team officials, as well as cautions and dismissals.

Each of the three associations allocated an additional place in the first qualifying round of the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League will be entitled to enter the club that wins its domestic top-division fair play competition. If this club has already qualified for a UEFA competition, the second-placed team in the domestic fair play table may be entered, and so on. It is even possible for a side that has been relegated to the second highest division to qualify for the UEFA Europa League as a result of exemplary conduct during the domestic championship.