Manchester City may be looking for new management next season, but it may also find itself playing in Europe as well. UEFA has announced today that England have finished in the top spot of this season’s Fair Play rankings. The rankings are based on evaluations of all games played in UEFA competitions (national or club), with points awarded or deducted for positive play, respect for opponents and referees, behavior of the crowd, and yellow or red cards given. England has held the top spot three times since its founding in 1995.
For finishing on top, England have been automatically awarded a fourth spot to next year’s UEFA Cup competition, joining the winners of the FA Cup, League Cup champions Tottenham, and the 5th place finisher on the final Premier League table. The fourth spot will be awarded to the highest finisher on the Premier League’s own fair play table who has not otherwise qualified for a UEFA competition next season.
That distinction right now is held by Manchester City, who lie fifth on the fair play table after four teams who have already won European places. This would be the second time City has made the UEFA Cup on fair play; they also were best in fair play when England last won an automatic spot in 2003. However, it will only be official once all matches are played. Two teams lie within a tenth of point of City on the current table; Everton and Fulham. Everton, however, only need a last day draw or Aston Villa not winning to get its own UEFA Cup spot, meaning Fulham has the best chance of taking away City’s place. And I have a feeling Fulham has its mind on something other than fair play right now.
It’s not the most glamorous way to get European play, but you can be sure City and Sven will be on their best behavior against Middlesbrough this Sunday.
Wow, go City.
I’m kind of wishing that Sven leaves, as he deserves better than Manchester.
Plus, I’m hoping that Arsenal raid them for the young English talent…
The Manchester City owner is stupid for letting Sven go, he reached Europe in the 1st season in charge and the fan’s love him. More time and more investments and he might be breaking the top 4… who knows?
A question though… what about Aston Villa? Is a victory and finish in the 5th spot the only way for them to get into Europe?
And what if Pompey lose in the FA cup? they don’t go into Europe I realize that, but wouldn’t they get the honor since they’re higher on the table?
At present only the team finishing 5th will automatically qualify for the UEFA Cup which is either Everton or Aston Villa because Spurs won the League Cup and are currently 11th. Both cup winners will receive two places ( Tottenham and either Pompey or Cardiff) and the extra place now will go to either Manchester City, Everton ( if the don’t finish 5th, they’ll be up for the fair play place or Fulham.) Pompey have to win the cup to get into Europe.
I hope that’s clear. Hahaha.
can someone explain to me the difference between the UEFA Fair Play table, and the Behavior of the Public Fair Play Tables by the Premier League?
Because, as a Fulham fan, its my understanding that the club is up for European competition through both of those…
Which is incredible. But also really confusing.
Any chance the City players deliberately blow it to “voice” their displeasure over the whole firing deal?
Timmyg:
UEFA’s Fair Play table is based solely on matches held in official UEFA competitions (Champions League, UEFA Cup, or European Qualifiers). It only determines which nations can qualify for fair play spots.
The PL fair play tables are based on matches played in league competition. The Behavior of the Public Fair Play table, which covers fan behavior at matches, is one aspect of the overall Premier League Fair Play table. The team who tops the overall PL Fair Play table (and is not going to Europe any other way) is the one who gets the UEFA Cup spot at the end of the season.
Correction (yeah, I need to be a little more careful): Behavior of the Public Fair Play is NOT part of the overall Premier League Fair Play table. The PL table is based solely on what happens on the field in a match. The fan table is just for fun (and pride for the best fanbases) from what I can tell.
But if Pompey lose, and then Cardif get a spot.
But Pompey end up above Manchester City… they still wouldn’t get it?
Because I don’t remember Pompey being a foul team…
Here’s the link to the Premiership fair play table
http://www.premierleague.com/page/FairPlayTable/0,,12306,00.html
As you can see it’s only including 36 games so far, so the last two rounds are yet to be added. This is very interesting because in the last two games City have received a red card and a yellow and Fulham have recieved two yellows.
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So many different ideas listed here – amazing….