What about HONESTY in football?

Ukrainians play football not too honest. This is reflected the low Ukraine position (23 place) in a recently published UEFA's Respect Fair Play rankings. List of countries "for honesty game" was formed on the basis of performance clubs and national teams in tournaments under the auspices of European Football Union in the period from 1 May, 2009 to 30 April, 2010.

Following last season in the UEFA's Respect Fair Play rankings Ukraine got 7,933 points, Ukrainian teams and Ukrainian national football team have played 82 matches. Not far from the Ukraine in the list of "fair play" - on the 20th, 22nd and 24th positions respectively placed team of the Netherlands (7.961 points, 108 games), Italy (7.934, 132) and Austria (7.925, 89). Team of Macedonia closes the list of "fair play" in 46 place (7.42).

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 team officials, as well as cautions and dismissals.

Sweden have won UEFA's Respect Fair Play rankings, based on all UEFA competition matches played at both club and national team levels, from 1 May 2009 to 30 April 2010.Winners Sweden, second-placed Denmark and third-placed Finland will each be granted one additional slot in the first qualifying round of the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League.

The three associations that are allocated an additional UEFA Europa League berth 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 competition, the second-placed team in the domestic fair play standings may be entered and, should they also have already qualified, the third-placed side would be considered and so forth.It is even possible for a team that has been relegated to the second division to qualify for the UEFA Europa League, as a result of its exemplary conduct during the domestic championship. Only clubs that have received a UEFA licence will be able to participate in the UEFA Europa League.

For the final rankings, only associations having played a minimum of 32 matches are taken into account. This cut-off point is calculated by dividing the total number of UEFA games by the number of national associations.

UEFA Respect Fair Play final rankings 2009/10 here.

Information Center "Ukraine-2012" on materials of the UEFA official site