2003 Belarusian Premier League

Belarusian Premier League 2003 was the 13th season of top-tier football in Belarus. The first round was postponed from April 11–12 to later dates due to heavy showfall. The season finally started on April 18 and ended on November 9, 2004. BATE Borisov were the defending champions.

Team changes from 2002 season

Due to Premiere League expansion from 14 to 16 teams, one lowest placed team in 2002 Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk was replaced by three best teams from 2002 First League: Darida Minsk Raion, Naftan Novopolotsk and Lokomotiv Minsk. Torpedo-MAZ Minsk changed their name to Torpedo-SKA Minsk. Darida originally was registered in Minsk suburb Zhdanovichi, while playing their games in Kuntsevschina district in Minsk. The team was renamed to Darida-TDZh Zhdanovichi (due to sponsorship from shopping center Zhdanovichi) for a few weeks in early 2003. However, after shopping center cancelled their sponsorship, team's name was changed back to Darida and official location became Minsk Raion, while team's office and stadium locations remained the same.

Overview

Gomel won their 1st champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up BATE Borisov and 2003–04 Cup winners Shakhtyor Soligorsk qualified for UEFA Cup. Teams finished on the last two places (Lokomotiv Minsk and Molodechno-2000) relegated to the First League.

Teams and venues

Table

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd matches won; 3rd head-to-head.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Belarusian clubs in Euporean Cups

Top scorers

See also

• 2003 Belarusian First League
• 2002–03 Belarusian Cup
• 2003–04 Belarusian Cup

External links

• RSSSF