The Lilywhites accumulated an impressive 1094 points over the course of the season with Derry City in second place with 1079 points and Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup winners Cork City in third with 1076 points.
Each team can get a maximum of 50 points per game and the scores are decided on five different categories:
- Red and Yellow cards
- Respect for opponents
- Respect for the referee team
- Behaviour of team officials
- Behaviour of spectators
In each category, a team can score a maximum of 10 points but various deductions take place throughout the match if the behaviour of the team contravenes the fair play rules, i.e three point deduction for a red card, one point deduction for a yellow card; which is decided by the match delegate.
The Football Association of Ireland have awarded Dundalk €4,000 for winning the Fair Play League and the club could receive a further bonus from UEFA. UEFA awards associations each year on their fair play score in the following three categories:
- Overall fair play: the association with the highest overall fair play score.
- Improvement in overall fair play score from one season to the next: the association whose overall fair play score has improved the most since the previous season.
- Behaviour of spectators: the association with the highest final score for this criterion.
The association ranked highest in each of the three categories is awarded prize money to donate to the fair play score winners. If the FAI wins one of the three categories, Dundalk will receive prize money to use for fair play or respect-themed projects around the club or in the community. UEFA will announce the winners of the categories at the end of the 2016/17 season.
Dundalk General Manager Martin Connolly said: “We’re delighted to win the Fair Play award in what has been a fantastic season for the club.
“The award shows that the team are not only successful how they play the game but also do it in the right manner which is a fantastic accolade for the management staff and squad to have.
“Our exploits in Europe and at home have gained this football club a lot of respect during the course of the season and to receive the Fair Play award is testament to that.”