2003 Torneo Descentralizado

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.

Torneo Descentralizado
Season2003
ChampionsAlianza Lima
20th Primera División title
Copa LibertadoresAlianza Lima
Sporting Cristal
Cienciano
Copa SudamericanaAlianza Atlético
Coronel Bolognesi
Top goalscorerLuis Alberto Bonnet (20)
← 2002
2004 →

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 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
Locations of the 2003 Primera División teams
Team City Stadium Capacity Field
Alianza AtléticoSullanaCampeones del 368,000Grass
Alianza LimaLimaAlejandro Villanueva35,000Grass
Atlético UniversidadArequipaMonumental UNSA45,000Grass
CiencianoCuzcoGarcilaso42,056Grass
Coronel BolognesiTacnaJorge Basadre19,850Grass
Deportivo WankaHuancayoHuancayo20,000Grass
Estudiantes de MedicinaIcaJosé Picasso Peratta8,000Grass
MelgarArequipaMariano Melgar20,000Grass
Sport BoysCallaoMiguel Grau18,000Grass
Sporting CristalLimaSan Martín de Porres15,000Grass
Unión HuaralHuaralJulio Lores Colan10,000Grass
UniversitarioLimaMonumental80,093Grass

Torneo Apertura
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Sporting Cristal 22 15 4 3 50 20 +30 49 2004 Copa Libertadores Group Stage
2 Alianza Lima 22 14 4 4 40 20 +20 46 2003 Copa Sudamericana qualifying round
3 Coronel Bolognesi 22 9 8 5 30 22 +8 35
4 Cienciano 22 10 4 8 31 22 +9 34
5 Sport Boys 22 8 7 7 34 28 +6 31
6 Alianza Atlético 22 7 8 7 29 28 +1 29
7 Unión Huaral 22 8 5 9 28 40 −12 29
8 Universitario 22 7 7 8 32 35 −3 28
9 Melgar 22 5 7 10 20 30 −10 22
10 Estudiantes de Medicina 22 6 3 13 23 35 −12 21
11 Deportivo Wanka 22 4 7 11 22 31 −9 19
12 Atlético Universidad 22 4 6 12 25 43 −18 18
Updated to match(es) played on June 2003. Source: Peruvian Football Apertura 2003
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Copa Sudamericana 2003 qualifying

First leg
Cienciano1 – 1Sporting Cristal
Lugo  90' (pen.) Junior  80'
Alianza Lima0 – 0Coronel Bolognesi

Second leg
Coronel Bolognesi1 – 2Alianza Lima
Sporting Cristal1 – 2Cienciano
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.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Alianza Lima 15 10 4 1 29 9 +20 34 2004 Copa Libertadores Group Stage
2 Alianza Atlético 15 8 5 2 25 13 +12 29
3 Sporting Cristal 15 7 6 2 29 18 +11 27
4 Sport Boys 15 8 3 4 27 17 +10 27
5 Coronel Bolognesi 15 8 1 6 24 18 +6 25
6 Melgar 15 7 1 7 26 22 +4 22
7 Unión Huaral 15 6 3 6 12 17 −5 21
8 Cienciano 14 4 3 7 17 20 −3 15
9 Atlético Universidad 14 4 3 7 10 18 −8 15
10 Universitario 15 3 4 8 12 21 −9 13
11 Deportivo Wanka 15 3 4 8 11 24 −13 13
12 Estudiantes de Medicina 15 1 3 11 10 35 −25 6
Updated to match(es) played on November 2003. Source: Peruvian Football Apertura 2003
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

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.

Final
Alianza Lima2 – 1 (a.e.t.)Sporting Cristal
Silva  31'
Farfán  91'		 Soto  27'
Estadio Nacional, Lima, Lima

Title
Primera División Peruana
2003 Champion
Alianza Lima
20th title

Aggregate table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Alianza Lima 37 24 8 5 69 29 +40 80 2004 Copa Libertadores Group Stage
2 Sporting Cristal 37 22 10 5 79 38 +41 76
3 Coronel Bolognesi 37 17 9 11 54 50 +4 60 2004 Copa Libertadores qualifying group
4 Sport Boys 37 16 10 11 61 45 +16 58
5 Alianza Atlético 37 15 13 9 54 41 +13 58
6 Unión Huaral 37 14 8 15 40 57 −17 50 2004 Copa Libertadores qualifying preliminary
7 Cienciano 36 14 7 15 48 42 +6 49
8 Melgar 37 12 8 17 46 52 −6 44
9 Universitario 37 10 11 16 44 56 −12 41
10 Atlético Universidad 36 8 9 19 35 61 −26 33
11 Deportivo Wanka 37 7 11 19 33 55 −22 32
12 Estudiantes de Medicina 37 7 6 24 10 35 −25 27
Updated to match(es) played on November 2003. Source: Peruvian Football Apertura 2003
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

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
First leg
Unión Huaral2 – 2Cienciano
Meza Cuadra  5'
Vegas  49' (pen.)		 Carty  39'
Ibarra  76'
Estadio Julio Lores Colan, Huaral
Second leg
Cienciano2 – 0Unión Huaral
Carty  2'
Ibarra  80'

Qualifying group
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Cienciano 2 2 0 0 3 0 +3 6 Copa Libertadores 2004 Preliminary Round
2 Alianza Atlético 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 3 2004 Copa Sudamericana Preliminary Phase
3 Coronel Bolognesi 2 0 0 2 0 3 −3 0
4 Sport Boys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Withdrew
Updated to match(es) played on November 2003. Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Round 1
Alianza Atlético1 – 0Coronel Bolognesi
García  56' (pen.)
Estadio Nacional, Lima
Round 2
Cienciano1 – 0Alianza Atlético
Balbín  89'
Estadio Nacional, Lima
Round 3
Coronel Bolognesi0 – 2Cienciano
Acasiete  21'
Carty  26'
Estadio Nacional, Lima

Top goalscorers
20 goals
19 goals
17 goals
15 goals
14 goals
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