Primera División Peruana 2003

The 2003 season of the Primera División Peruana, the top category of Peruvian football (soccer), was played by 12 teams. The national champion was Alianza Lima.

The national championship was divided into two half-year tournaments, the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura. Each was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners of each would play for the national title in a playoff, but a team had to finish in the top 6 in both tournaments to earn the right to play the final. If the same club had won both tournaments, it would have won the national championship automatically.

Following-season Copa Libertadores berths went to each half-year tournament winner, and the third spot was supposed to go to the best of the other teams in the aggregate table. Due to a players strike that stopped the tournament short, a small qualifying tournament was staged after the strike was called off, giving the remaining berth to the winner, and two Copa Sudamericana 2004 berths to the second and third placed teams. No teams were relegated in order to expand the league to 14 teams.

Two-legged qualifying playoffs for the Copa Sudamericana 2003 were also played by the top four teams in the Apertura shortly after the end of the half-year tournament.

Results

Torneo Apertura

Copa Libertadores 2004 qualifying

After the strike was called off in January 2004, it was decided that, since the tournament had not been completed, a qualifying tournament would decide the allocation of the third Peruvian berth for the Copa Libertadores 2004. The tournament was to include four teams, in principle from the third to the sixth teams according to the aggregate table. But since Cienciano had played one match less and would have surpassed Unión Huaral had they won it, a preliminary playoff was held between them. Sport Boys withdrew from the tournament in disagreement with the decision. Had the Clausura Rounds 16 and 17 not been annulled, the team would have been third in the aggregate table, and could have claimed the remaining berth. Also, some teams saw the tournament as a way to favor Cienciano, who had just won the Copa Sudamericana 2003, to give them a chance at representing Peru at the Copa Libertadores.

Preliminary playoff

Round-robin playoffs

Promotion

*Sport Coopsol and Club Deportivo Universidad César Vallejo promoted to Primera División 2004
**Sport Coopsol won the Segunda División (Second Division) 2003, a second-level league for teams in Lima. Universidad San Martín de Porres bought the franchise before the 2004 season, taking the spot in the Primera División.
**César Vallejo (Trujillo) won the Copa Perú 2003 after defeating Deportivo Educación (Abancay) in the three-legged final (3-1 win at home, 0-1 loss away and 4-0 win in Lima).

Top scorers

;20 goals
*Luis A. Bonnet (Sporting Cristal);19 goals
*Pedro García (Alianza Atlético);17 goals
*Sergio Ibarra (Estudiantes, Unión Huaral, Cienciano);15 goals
*Paul Cominges (Universitario);14 goals
*Carlos Orejuela (Sport Boys)

International competitions

*Copa Libertadores 2002:Universitario de Deportes - third place in Group 6 with 7 points; eliminated.:Sporting Cristal - third place in Group 2 with 7 points; eliminated.:Alianza Lima - fourth place in Group 4 with 5 points; eliminated
*Copa Sudamericana 2002:Alianza Lima - eliminated in Peru Preliminary Round by Cienciano.:Cienciano - beat Alianza Lima in Peru Preliminary Round; beat U. Catolica of Chile in Peru-Chile Preliminary Round; beat Santos FC of Brazil in quarterfinals; beat Atlético Nacional of Colombia in semifinals; beat River Plate of Argentina in final; first-time winner.

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesp/peru03.html Peru 2003 season] Details on RSSSF