UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking

The UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking has been used by UEFA since 1995 to grant three berths for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. As of the 2015–16 season it will no longer grant any berths, instead granting a monetary prize to winning associations.

The highest finishing clubs in the national Fair Play rankings not yet participating in either the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Cup were potential contenders for the three remaining berths. The club from the association which won the Fair Play ranking qualified automatically for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. The two other teams were drawn out of the clubs from the associations that have reached the threshold of minimum games and had a score of at least 8.0.

The three highest placed national associations in the UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking will each automatically gain an extra qualification berth for the First Qualifying Round, providing they have exceeded the threshold of games played, and have a minimum average score of 8.0. These berths are then allocated to the highest placed club in that association's own Fair Play league that has not yet qualified for either the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League.

As of the 2015–16 season, Fair Play will be assessed on three categories: overall fair play, year-on-year fair play and spectator behaviour, with each association being scored and an association being declared the winner for each category. No association can win more than one category, meaning that on receiving one category award, an association becomes ineligible to win either of the other two, with the three categories being ranked in importance so that it can be determined which category takes preference. As of 2015, Fair Play no longer grants entry to the Europa League, instead only netting the victorious association a cash prize to be put towards "fair play or respect-themed projects".

The UEFA Executive Committee approved in December 2014 changes to the rewards given according to the Respect Fair Play ranking, and starting from the 2016–17 season, the three Fair Play berths will no longer be allocated to the Europa League. Instead, a financial bonus will be paid by UEFA to the best Fair Play association, the most improved association, and the association with the best behaved spectators. The ranking assessment period has also been changed from between 1 May to 30 April the following year, to 1 July to 30 June the following year (for the transitional season of 2015–16, the ranking assessment period covers all matches between 1 May 2015 and 30 June 2016).

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