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Borussia Dortmund was awarded the Fair Play Award by the DFL for the 2015/16 Bundesliga season. Fair Play is determined by the amount of disciplinary action a team receives over a season along with overall respect and behavior by the club and its fans towards its opponent and referee.
Through a hard-fought, physical, and frustrating 34-match Bundesliga season, Borussia Dortmund ended last season without having a single player sent off in league play. With only 39 yellow cards on top of that, BVB beat out Bayern Munich by 13 points to capture the Fair Play crown.
Dortmund und Freiburg waren die fairsten Teams 2015/16 - DFL kürt Gewinner der Fair-Play-Wertung #BVB https://t.co/eQMAW6Nd4J
— kicker - Dortmund (@kicker_BVB) July 18, 2016
The Fair Play rankings were not the only reason why Dortmund was victorious. Match reports stated a consistent respect by the observers and technical staff towards the referees and opposing teams.
Borussia Monchengladbach rounds out the top three finishing just four points back of Munich. And in case you were wondering, the last-place finisher for last season was Eintracht Frankfurt with an appalling 93 yellow cards and three red cards. Frankfurt was also fined the most by the DFL: a whopping 175,000 euros.
Borussia Dortmund also received a fine by the DFL for 75,000 euros due to fans lighting pyrotechnic devices. More than 20 teams between the top two leagues in the DFL received fines last season.
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In the 2. Bundesliga, SC Freiburg took the Fair Play Award over RB Leipzig and FC St. Pauli. Freiburg was promoted to the top flight last year and will vie for the Bundesliga Fair Play Award this season.