UCD win UEFA Fair Play award

UCD have won the Airtricity League Fair Play award for the 2012 season on the back of their excellent conduct throughout the year.

The Belfield outfit are also now in with a chance of claiming a Europa League spot for the coming season as a result of winning the award. Added to that they also stand to receive €4,000 in prize money.

The Fair Play award is based on a points system that is calculated by the match delegate present at every Premier Division tie. Points are awarded and deducted for yellow and red cards, positive play and the behaviour of players and management towards the match day officials.

The competition in Ireland was confined to Premier Division teams. UCD finished first in the table ahead of Sligo Rovers and Cork City respectively.

The Students must now wait until May 1^st 2013 to find out whether or not they will claim a Europa League spot. The Fair Play rankings run from May 1^st 2012 to April 30^th 2013 and are based on all UEFA competition matches played at both club and national team level.

The top three countries in the table come May 1^st will have their top domestic team in the competition advance to the first qualifying round of the Europa League.

An Irish team has never gained entry into the Europa League this way since the competition started in 1995. Last season Ireland finished 14^th as Stabaek (Norway), MYPA (Finland) and FC Twente (Holland) won entry.