2003 Torneo Descentralizado

Torneo Descentralizado

Season	2003
Champions	Alianza Lima 20th Primera División title
Copa Libertadores	Alianza Lima Sporting Cristal Cienciano
Copa Sudamericana	Alianza Atlético Coronel Bolognesi
Top goalscorer	Luis Alberto Bonnet (20)
← 2002 2004 →

The 2003 Torneo Descentralizado (known as the Copa Cable Mágico for sponsorship reasons) was the eighty-seventh season of top-flight Peruvian football. A total of 12 teams competed in the tournament, with Sporting Cristal as the defending champion. Alianza Lima won its twentieth Primera División title after beating Sporting Cristal in the final playoff.

Changes from 2002

Structural changes

Starting in the 2003 season, half-year champions had to finish in the top six of each tournament to dispute the national title instead of the top four. A Copa Sudamericana qualifying round was disputed between the top four of the Torneo Clausura. No relegation took place at the end of the season due to a player's strike during the Clausura. The player's strike also caused an international qualifying round be played between the top five of the aggregate table who had not already qualified to an international tournament for 2004.

Promotion and Relegation

Juan Aurich and Sport Coopsol Trujillo finished the 2002 season in 11th and 12th place, respectively, on the three-season average table and thus were relegated to their regional leagues. They were replaced by the champion of the 2002 Copa Perú Atlético Universidad and the 2002 Segunda División champion Unión Huaral.

Teams

Alianza Atlético

Estudiantes

Wanka

Unión Huaral

Cienciano

Melgar
A. Universidad

Coronel Bolognesi

Alianza Lima
Sporting Cristal
Universitario
Sport Boys

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Locations of the 2003 Primera División teams

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Field
Alianza Atlético	Sullana	Campeones del 36	8,000	Grass
Alianza Lima	Lima	Alejandro Villanueva	35,000	Grass
Atlético Universidad	Arequipa	Monumental UNSA	45,000	Grass
Cienciano	Cuzco	Garcilaso	42,056	Grass
Coronel Bolognesi	Tacna	Jorge Basadre	19,850	Grass
Estudiantes de Medicina	Ica	José Picasso Peratta	8,000	Grass
Melgar	Arequipa	Mariano Melgar	20,000	Grass
Sport Boys	Callao	Miguel Grau	18,000	Grass
Sporting Cristal	Lima	San Martín de Porres	15,000	Grass
Unión Huaral	Huaral	Julio Lores Colan	10,000	Grass
Universitario	Lima	Monumental	80,093	Grass
Wanka	Huancayo	Huancayo	20,000	Grass

Torneo Apertura

Copa Sudamericana 2003 qualifying

First leg

6 July 2003 (2003-07-06)

Cienciano	1 – 1	Sporting Cristal
Lugo 90' (pen.)		Junior 80'

Estadio Garcilaso, Cusco

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6 July 2003 (2003-07-06)

Alianza Lima	0 – 0	Coronel Bolognesi

Estadio Alejandro Villanueva, Lima

Second leg

9 July 2003 (2003-07-09)

Coronel Bolognesi	1 – 2	Alianza Lima

Estadio Jorge Basadre, Tacna

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9 July 2003 (2003-07-09)

Sporting Cristal	1 – 2	Cienciano

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Cienciano and Alianza Lima qualified to the 2003 Copa Sudamericana, which Cienciano went on to win.

Torneo Clausura

A strike by professional players cut the Clausura short. Most matches of Rounds 16 and 17 were played with under-20 and amateur players, but were later annulled. These are not included in the table below. Template:Fb cl header Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl qr Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl2 team Template:Fb cl footer

Final playoff

While not officially the Clausura champions because of the strike, Alianza Lima was leading the tournament, as well as the aggregate table, so a final playoff against the Apertura winners Sporting Cristal was held in January 2004, once the strike was called off.

31 January 2004

Final

Alianza Lima	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Sporting Cristal
Silva 31' Farfán 91'		Soto 27'

Estadio Nacional, Lima, Lima

Title

Primera División Peruana 2003 Champion
Alianza Lima 21th title

2004 international 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.

Qualifying preliminary

22 January 2004 (2004-01-22)

First leg

Unión Huaral	2 – 2	Cienciano
Meza Cuadra 5' Vegas 49' (pen.)		Carty 39' Ibarra 76'

Estadio Julio Lores Colan, Huaral

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25 January 2004 (2004-01-25)

Second leg

Cienciano	2 – 0	Unión Huaral
Carty 2' Ibarra 80'

Estadio Garcilaso, Cusco

Qualifying group

29 January 2004 (2004-01-29)

Round 1

Alianza Atlético	1 – 0	Coronel Bolognesi
García 56' (pen.)

Estadio Nacional, Lima

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1 February 2004 (2004-02-01)

Round 2

Cienciano	1 – 0	Alianza Atlético
Balbín 89'

Estadio Nacional, Lima

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4 February 2004 (2004-02-04)

Round 3

Coronel Bolognesi	0 – 2	Cienciano
		Acasiete 21' Carty 26'

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Top goalscorers

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 de Deportes)

14 goals

• Carlos Orejuela (Sport Boys)

External links

• Peru 2003 season Details on RSSSF