England top the UEFA Fair Play rankings, the Faroe Islands have the best behaved fans

England finished last season at the top of the fair play rankings for national and club teams in European football competitions, UEFA said on Tuesday.

The UEFA formula rated English teams over the 241 matches played last season, yielding an average points total, ahead of Slovakia in second place and Finland in third.

For every match UEFA organizes, UEFA sends a delegate who judges teams in five categories: red and yellow cards, respect for opponents, respect for referees, behavior of team officials, behavior of spectators.

The UEFA rulebook suggests positive marks for ‘helping an injured opponent’ and ‘informing the referee when a corner kick or throw-in should have gone to the other team’, while incidents such as wasting time, ‘play acting and simulating injuries’ plus ‘provoking a mass confrontation’ are listed.

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In the ranking of best behaved spectators, the fans of the Faroe Islands were at the top, followed by Moldova and Kazakhstan.

Albania’s teams and fans were ranked last in every ranking of countries whose teams played enough UEFA competition matches to qualify.

Moldova was also the most improved country in terms of overall fair play scores, UEFA said.

UEFA will award a prize of 50,000 euros ($58,000) to each of the three winners to donate to “the amateur or professional club of their choice for a project with a fair play or respect theme.”

Published on October 29, 2025