2003 in Russian football

2003 in Russian football saw the first title for PFC CSKA Moscow. Spartak Moscow, the Cup winners, had the worst league finish since 1976. The national team qualified for Euro 2004.

National team

Russia national football team qualified for the Euro 2004. After finishing second to Switzerland in group 10, Russia overcame Wales in play-offs.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^1	Competition	Russia scorers	Match Report
12 February 2003	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol (A)	Cyprus	1–0	FT	Dmitry Khokhlov	rsssf
13 February 2003	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol (N)	Romania	4–2	FT	Andrei Karyaka, Andrei Arshavin, Rolan Gusev, 1 own goal	rsssf
29 March 2003	Loro-Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër (A)	Albania	1–3	ECQ	Andrei Karyaka	uefa
30 April 2003	Locomotive Stadium, Tbilisi (A)	Georgia	0–1	ECQ		uefa
7 June 2003	St. Jakob-Park, Basel (A)	Switzerland	2–2	ECQ	Sergey Ignashevich (2)	uefa
20 August 2003	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow (H)	Israel	1–2	F	Sergei Semak	rsssf
6 September 2003	Lansdowne Road, Dublin (A)	Republic of Ireland	1–1	ECQ	Sergey Ignashevich	uefa
10 September 2003	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow (H)	Switzerland	4–1	ECQ	Dmitri Bulykin (3), Alexander Mostovoi	uefa
11 October 2003	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow (H)	Georgia	3–1	ECQ	Dmitri Bulykin, Egor Titov, Dmitri Sychev	uefa
15 November 2003	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow (H)	Wales	0–0	ECQP		uefa
19 November 2003	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (A)	Wales	1–0	ECQP	Vadim Evseev	uefa

1. Russia score given first

Key

• H = Home match
• A = Away match
• N = Neutral ground
• F = Friendly
• FT = Friendly tournament
• ECQ = 2004 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying, Group 10
• ECQP = 2004 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying, play-off

Leagues

Premier League

First Division

The First Division was extended from 18 teams in 2005 to 22. Amkar and Kuban won the promotion on the dramatic final day of the season, leaving Terek and Tom in the First Division.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
P	1	Amkar	42	25	12	5	50	20	+30	87
P	2	Kuban	42	27	5	10	75	38	+37	86
	3	Tom	42	25	10	7	55	23	+32	85
	4	Terek	42	25	10	7	56	21	+35	85
	5	Dynamo SPb	42	23	8	11	66	37	+29	77
	6	Anzhi	42	19	13	10	52	33	+19	70
	7	Baltika	42	18	10	14	58	49	+9	64
	8	Metallurg	42	17	11	14	53	38	+15	62
	9	Sokol	42	16	14	12	52	36	+12	62
	10	SKA-Energia	42	16	12	14	51	47	+4	60
	11	Lokomotiv	42	19	0	23	55	66	–11	57
	12	Khimki	42	16	9	17	36	46	–10	57
	13	Metallurg-Kuzbass	42	14	12	16	42	47	–5	54
	14	Lisma-Mordovia	42	15	8	19	54	60	–6	53
	15	Spartak	42	14	10	18	34	49	–15	52
	16	Neftekhimik	42	14	9	19	50	60	–10	51
	17	Gazovik-Gazprom	42	12	14	16	44	56	–12	50
R	18	Fakel-Voronezh	42	13	10	19	44	56	–12	49
R	19	Ural	42	11	8	23	43	65	–22	41
R	20	Kristall	42	10	5	27	40	72	–32	35
R	21	Volgar-Gazprom	42	6	11	25	28	60	–32	29
R	22	Lada	42	5	3	34	27	86	–59	18

Aleksandr Panov of Dynamo SPb became the top goalscorer with 23 goals.

Second Division

The Ural and Povolzhye zones of the Second Division were merged because of low number of clubs. The following clubs have earned promotion by winning tournaments in their respective zones:

• FC Arsenal Tula (West)
• FC Oryol (Centre)
• FC Dynamo Makhachkala (South)
• FC KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny (Ural-Povolzhye)
• FC Luch-Energia Vladivostok (East)

Cups

In a newly introduced Russian Super Cup Lokomotiv overcame CSKA 4–3 on penalties after the match ended 1–1. The match was held at the newly reconstructed Lokomotiv Stadium.

The Russian Cup was won by Spartak Moscow, who beat Rostov in the final 1–0.

UEFA club competitions

UEFA Champions League 2002-03

Lokomotiv Moscow participated in the second group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2003-04, where they finished fourth with just one point in a group which included A.C. Milan, Real Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund.

UEFA Champions League 2003-04

CSKA Moscow were unsuccessful in the UEFA Champions League 2003-04, as they lost in the second qualifying round to FK Vardar 2–3 on aggregate.

Lokomotiv Moscow beat FC Shakhtar Donetsk to qualify for the group stage. They finished second in a group with Arsenal F.C., Internazionale Milano F.C., and FC Dynamo Kyiv. Lokomotiv were level on points with Inter but qualified for the knock-out rounds thanks to a 3–0 home win and away draw.

UEFA Cup 2003-04

Torpedo Moscow beat F.C. Domagnano 9–0 on aggregate in the qualifying round. In the first round, they needed a penalty shootout to overcome PFC CSKA Sofia. In the second round, Torpedo lost 1–2 on aggregate to Villarreal CF.

Spartak Moscow knocked out Esbjerg fB and Dinamo Bucureşti in the first two rounds and qualified for the spring phase of the competition.

References

• National team fixtures (Russian)
• League and cup results
• UEFA Champions League results: 2002-03 2003-04
• UEFA Cup results