Town's continuing good behaviour in the Premiership could lead to another promising route into the UEFA Cup in addition to the InterToto Cup entry. And it looks a real possibility.

Sides need to finish above 12th in the Premiership to qualify for an invitation to the InterToto Cup, however, the Blues are by no means guaranteed a final position as high as this.

But UEFA offer an automatic qualification to the UEFA Cup for three sides via the various European Fair Play leagues.

This route is open to the winners of national Fair Play leagues as long as the league has a score of eight or above in the UEFA Fair Play League Co-efficient System.

The top rated league's winner gets an automatic place in the final qualifying round of the UEFA Cup while two sides drawn from the rest will also gain places in the final qualifying round.

However, should the winners of those leagues have qualified for Europe via another route then the place is inherited by the second place side. If they've already qualified then the place is passed on to the third placed side and so on.

The Blues are currently fourth in the Premiership Fair Play League with a good disciplinary record on and off the field. As well as low levels of red and yellow cards general good sportsmanship count towards a club's position in the table.

Above Town are Manchester United, Liverpool and Fulham. The top two are virtually assured places in either the Champions' League or the UEFA Cup while Fulham stand a good chance of either qualifying for the UEFA either by finishing in the top eight or via the InterToto Cup. Their third position could also be usurped by Town before the season is out.

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