2002–03 UEFA Cup

Association team allocation

A total of 145 teams from 51 UEFA member associations participated in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:

The winners of the 2001–02 UEFA Cup were given an additional entry as title holders if they did not qualify for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup through their domestic performance. However, this additional entry was not necessary for this season since the title holders (Feyenoord) qualified for European competitions through their domestic performance.

Association ranking

For the 2002–03 UEFA Cup, the associations were allocated places according to their 2001 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 1996–97 to 2000–01.

Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations had additional teams participating in the UEFA Cup, as noted below:

Distribution

Since the title holders (Feyenoord) qualified for the Champions League through their domestic performance, the first round spot reserved for the title holders was vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system were made:

Redistribution rules

A UEFA Cup place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, or qualifies for the UEFA Cup by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules:

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).

Qualifying round

In the qualifying round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2002 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

The draw was held on 21 June 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland. The first leg was played on 13 and 15 August, and the second leg was played on 29 August 2002.

First round

As in the previous round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams, based on their UEFA club coefficients, and drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

The draw was held on 30 August 2002 in Monaco. The first leg was played on 17 and 19 September, and the second leg was played on 1 and 3 October 2002.

¹This match was played in front of an empty stadium as punishment to Partizan for earlier crowd trouble.

Second round

As in the previous rounds, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams, based on their UEFA club coefficients, and drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

The draw was held on 8 October 2002 in Nyon, Switzerland. The first leg was played on 29 and 31 October, and the second leg was played on 7, 12 and 14 November 2002.

Final phase

In the final phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:

Third round

The draw was held on 15 November 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland. The first leg was played on 26 and 28 November, and the second leg was played on 10 and 12 December 2002.

Fourth round

The draw for the fourth round and quarter-finals was held on 13 December 2002. The first leg was played on 20 February, and the second leg was played on 27 February 2003.

Quarter-finals

The first leg was played on 13 March, and the second leg was played on 20 March 2003.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes) was held on 21 March 2003. The first leg was played on 10 April, and the second leg was played on 24 April 2003.