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Maltese fans among best-behaved in UEFA competitions

Published: 27-12-2017 17:05
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The UEFA fair play rankings for season 2016/17 make good reading for the Maltese clubs and the national team. The yearly rankings are based on the fair play results obtained from all UEFA competition matches played at both club and national team level between 1st July, 2016 and 30th June, 2017. The Maltese fans deserve credit for their behaviour last season. This is laid out in the classification for the behaviour of spectators as Malta placed third in this category, level with Iceland and Faroe Islands on 8.923 points. Finland had the best-behaved spectators last season with a tally of 9.187 followed by Latvia on 9.117. Malta ranks 36th in the UEFA Overall Fair Play Rankings with a tally of 8.079 from 42 matches but achieved the sixth best progression among the 55 associations. This significant improvement is reflected in the fair play score obtained by Malta in 2016-17 – 8.079 compared to 7.791 in 2015/16. Only Georgia, Moldova, Croatia, Latvia and Montenegro registered a greater improvement in their fair play score compared to Malta. In the overall fair play rankings chart, Iceland attained the highest score – 8.51 from 42 matches played, with the Netherlands second and Poland third. Only associations that played a minimum of 35 matches have been taken into account for the 2016/17 UEFA fair play competition. “This cut-off point is obtained by dividing the total number of UEFA matches by the number of participating UEFA member passociations,” UEFA said. Awards are given to the highest-ranked associations in the following categories – Overall fair play, improvement in the overall fair play score from one season to the next and behaviour of spectators. The winning associations in each of the three categories will be awarded €50,000 each to donate to amateur or professional clubs of their choice for fair play or respect-themed projects. TOP THREE OVERALL FAIR PLAY1. Iceland 8.51; 2. Netherlands 8.47; 3. Poland 8.462. BEST PROGRESSION1. Georgia 8.196; 2. Moldova 8.272; 3. Croatia 8.248. BEHAVIOUR OF SPECTATORS1. Finland 9.187; Latvia 9.117; 3. Iceland, Faroe Islands, Malta 8.923.