2003 Food City 500, Practice and qualifying
On Saturday morning, Kenseth was fastest in the second practice session with a lap of 15.683 seconds, ahead of Newman in second and Ward Burton in third. Busch was fourth quickest,  and Rusty Wallace took fifth. Jeff Burton managed sixth. Kyle Petty, Mark Martin, Jack Sprague and Nemechek followed in the top ten. During the final practice session, Busch was fastest with a time of 15.701. Stewart and Jeff Gordon followed in second and third with times of 15.722 and 15.723. Dave Blaney was fourth fastest, ahead of Earnhardt and Craven. Kenseth was seventh fastest, Martin eighth, Jerry Nadeau ninth, and Ward Burton tenth. The session was temporarily suspended when Marlin spun on the track, but managed to not to collide with the barriers.


2003 Food City 500, Race
The race, the sixth of a total of thirty-six in the 2003 season, and the 2,000th in the Winston Cup Series, began at 1:00pm EST and was televised live in the United States on Fox. At the start of the race, weather conditions were sunny. Reverend Mike Rife, of the Vansant Church of Christ in Vansant, Virginia, began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation. Country music singer Rebecca Lynn Howard performed the national anthem, and representatives of the United States Armed Forces commanded the drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, McMurray had to move to the rear of the grid because of him changing his engine.


2003 Food City 500, Race
Jeff Gordon accelerated faster than Newman off the line, getting ahead of him by the first turn. Rusty Wallace passed Newman for the second position one lap later. On lap 3, the first caution was given when Robby Gordon made contact with Petty, forcing him to spin sideways. Kenny Wallace also made contact with Ricky Rudd, but escaped with minor damage. None of the drivers made pit stops during the caution. Jeff Gordon led the field back up to speed at the restart. Jeremy Mayfield made contact with the wall on lap nine, and suffered a flat front right tire. Five laps later, a collision involving Dave Blaney, Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett prompted the second caution. Waltrip's car suffered heavy damage to the rear end of his car.


2003 Food City 500, Race
Almost immediately after the lap 20 restart, a collision between Casey Mears and John Andretti which collected Todd Bodine caused the third caution. Andretti's car sustained major damage to the front end. The race restarted on lap 29, with Rusty Wallace claiming the lead. One lap later, Busch and Stewart passed Schrader for seventh and eighth respectively. Earnhardt moved into third after passing Skinner on lap 33. One lap later, Jeff Gordon reclaimed the first position. On the 42nd lap, Earnhardt passed Rusty Wallace for second. Twelve laps later, Tony Raines stopped on track due to an engine failure, and the fourth caution was given as a result. All of the leaders elected to make pit stops during the caution.


2003 Food City 500, Race
Jeff Gordon maintained his lead at the restart, followed by Terry Labonte and Green. Stewart made contact with Newman, and collected Craven which prompted the fifth caution on lap 68. Behind the trio, Steve Park hit the rear of Johnson, causing the latter to spin sideways. Most drivers stayed on track during the caution, allowing Jeff Gordon to remain the leader on the restart. Skinner fell to eighth after being passed by Busch and Earnhardt on the 75th lap. Five laps later, Earnhardt passed Busch to claim sixth. On lap 85, Skinner fell from eighth to twelfth position. Kenseth, who started the race in thirty-seventh, had moved up thirty-four positions to third by lap 91. By the 111th lap, Jeff Gordon had maintained a half second lead over Terry Labonte. Thirteen laps later, Spencer and Stewart passed Kenseth for fourth and fifth respectively.


2003 Food City 500, Race
The pace car came out for the sixth caution on lap 136, after Skinner collided with the wall and his car caught fire. During the caution, all of the leaders elected to make pit stops. Jeff Gordon led on the restart, followed by Nemechek and Spencer. On the 150th lap, the seventh caution came out, after Sprague spun 180 degrees when he attempted to pass Benson and the two made contact. Jeff Gordon led on the restart, although he was passed by Skinner on lap 161. After starting the race in twenty-eighth, Kevin Harvick moved to sixth position by lap 169. Eleven laps later, Sprague spun sideways, prompting the eighth caution. During the caution, some of the leaders chose to make pit stops. Jeff Gordon led on the restart.


2003 Food City 500, Race
On the 198th lap, Jeff Burton made contact with Earnhardt, collecting Johnson, with all three cars escaping with minor damage. The ninth caution was prompted on the next lap, after Martin was sent spinning sideways from contact with Bill Elliott. Mears spun sideways before the caution was given. During the caution, some of the leaders elected to make pit stops. Harvick was the leader at the restart, followed by Spencer and Terry Labonte. Robby Gordon collided with the wall on lap 210, damaging his car and fell to twelfth position. Four laps later, Sadler passed Marlin for eighth. Spencer passed Harvick to reclaim the lead on the 217th lap. Nadeau spun sideways, prompting the tenth caution one lap later. Spencer maintained his lead at the lap 224 restart. On lap 226, Rudd and Bobby Labonte spun sideways, causing the eleventh caution.


2003 Food City 500, Race
The race restarted on lap 241. Two laps later, a multi-car collision occurred at turn 1 when Brett Bodine made contact with Terry Labonte, collecting Kenny Wallace, Robby Gordon, Petty, and Schrader; this would prompt the twelfth caution. Spencer remained the leader at the restart. On lap 256, McMurray spun sideways after contact with Robby Gordon and Ward Burton, causing the thirteenth caution. Stewart also made contact with Rudd, while Bobby Labonte spun sideways and managed to keep off the barriers. The race restarted on lap 263. On lap 265, Earnhardt lost two positions after being passed by Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kenseth. Eighteen laps later, Kenseth passed Jeff Gordon for the fifth position. By the 300th lap, Kenseth passed Johnson for third. On lap 315, Busch moved into the fifth position after passing Jeff Gordon.


2003 Food City 500, Race
Green flag pit stops began on lap 327 when Harvick made a pit stop. Kenseth passed Spencer to claim the first position on the 341st lap. Spencer lost another position to Busch four laps later. On lap 348, Bobby Labonte moved into fifth position after passing Johnson. Eleven laps later, Busch passed Kenseth to claim the lead. On the 367th lap, Earnhardt began to run out of fuel and made a pit stop one lap later. Bobby Labonte claimed the first position off Busch eleven laps later.


2003 Food City 500, Race
On lap 390, the fourteenth caution was prompted, after Jarrett collided with the wall. Schrader spun before the caution came out and damaged the front end of his car. The race restarted on lap 404, with Busch reclaiming the first position. On lap 407, the fifteenth caution was given, after Petty spun sideways. Busch remained the leader at the restart, ahead of Bobby Labonte and Rudd. Kenseth passed Biffle for fifth on lap 420.


2003 Food City 500, Race
Five laps later, the sixteenth caution was prompted, when Ward Burton made contact with Robby Gordon coming off turn four and collected Petty who spun into the barriers at turn one. Busch led the field back up to speed on the lap 439 restart. On the 456th lap, Kenseth passed Rudd to claim third position. Nine laps later, Biffle passed Rudd for fourth position. Martin was spun in front of the race leaders on lap 470, but managed to continue.


2003 Food City 500, Race
Three laps later, the pace car came out for the seventeenth and final caution, which was caused by Nemechek making contact with Stewart, (who just before made contact with Andretti) because of reduced visibility as Martin spun on track. Busch remained the leader at the lap 482 restart. Two laps later, Bobby Labonte was passed by Kenseth for second. On the 488th lap, Rudd reclaimed fourth position off Biffle. Busch crossed the finish line on lap 500 to win his first race of the 2003 season. Kenseth finished second, ahead of Bobby Labonte in third, Rudd in fourth, and Biffle in fifth.


2003 Food City 500, Race, Post-race
Busch appeared in victory lane to celebrate his first win of the season in front of 160,000 people who attended the race. Busch also earned $162,790 in race winnings. Afterward, his crew chief Jimmy Fennig praised his performance, "Kurt Busch is awesome, so awesome. He gets up on the wheel and drives the hell out of that race car, and he made a call today that won him the race." Kenseth was happy with his second-place finish, commenting, "I feel lucky. Started provisional here at Bristol and coming home second. So, it was a great race.


2003 Food City 500, Race, Post-race
Me and Bobby had to go there a little at the end, and I got my fender knocked in there a little. I was hoping I could make a run at Kurt before that happened. But, it was a good race. It's always physical out there, and we didn't have a scratch on the car there until right at the end, so it was pretty good."


2003 Food City 500, Race, Post-race
Bobby Labonte was happy with finishing third, commenting, "I got spun out twice and finished third. "It's a great day. How much greater could you want it to get?" Spencer, who led 139 laps of the race, was candid about his performance, "It should have been a first, but the Sirius Dodge boys are doing a good job. I wouldn't trade 'em. We made some mistakes, but we'll get better." Mears, who was involved in the lap 20 collision with Andretti and Todd Bodine, commented, "I don't know what happened.


2003 Food City 500, Race, Post-race
I was just going through the gears taking my time and it looked like somebody up front may have missed a shift or somebody may have got into somebody else." Terry Labonte, who was part of the race's biggest crash when Bodine made contact with him on lap 243, said that, "Any time you're in a race with a Bodine, you're liable to get in a wreck, and I did."


2003 Food City 500, Race, Post-race
During the race, Jerry Nadeau and Ryan Newman were involved in a battle for position that resulted in the two colliding on the 219th lap. Once Nadeau returned to pit road, he was talking out of anger to Newman's team personnel about the incident. Once the argument ended, Nadeau commented, "It's a shame. It was a great car for us, the U.S. Army Pontiac. Damn lapped-car can't use his head. I don't know what Ryan (Newman) was thinking. He just kept coming down, kept coming down."


2003 Food City 500, Race, Post-race
Newman argued, "It looked to me like the 11 (Bodine) got into the back of the 01 (Nadeau) on that one deal." Kyle Petty, who was involved in the crash on lap 425, was taken to the circuit's infield medical center, and later taken for a precautionary visit at the Bristol Regional Medical Center to undergo medical evaluations. Petty's crash was measured at 80G, and he suffered injuries to his ribs and abdomen. Petty was replaced by former CART driver Christian Fittipaldi for the next round, the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway.


2003 Food City 500, Race, Post-race
The race result left Kenseth leading the Drivers' Championship with 935 points. Busch, who finished first, moved to second on 797, nine points ahead of Stewart and eleven ahead of Waltrip. Earnhardt Jr. fell to fifth with 749 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Ford maintained the lead with 45 points. Chevrolet remained second on 37 points. Pontiac followed with 27 points, four points ahead of Dodge in fourth. Having increased his points lead, Kenseth said that he was happy and he would not change his driving style because of this change. He also added that his team would "have another six to eight months" before they would start to worry about their rivals making a challenge for the championship. The race took three hours, twenty-five minutes and twenty-two seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was .39th of a second.


2003 Football Conference play-off Final
The 2003 Football Conference play-off Final took place on 10 May 2003 and was contested between Dagenham & Redbridge and Doncaster Rovers. It was held at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent and was the inaugural final of the Football Conference playoffs which were introduced to accommodate a second promotion place to the Football League.


2003 Football Conference play-off Final, Match, Summary
Doncaster had much of the play early on in the match with Tony Roberts in the Daggers goal making a number of good saves, notably from Paul Barnes. Doncaster turned up the pressure and should have taken the lead through Steve Foster, whose header was cleared off the line by John McGrath. However they took a deserved lead when Tim Ryan's cross was headed into the net by Paul Green.


2003 Football Conference play-off Final, Match, Summary
Ten minutes into the second half Doncaster were two goals in front thanks to Dave Morley's header, which a Dagenham defender got an inadvertent hand to, with the ball rebounding in off the post. Dagenham battled on and got a goal back through Mark Stein, who netted after a knock down from target man Steve West. They then levelled the scores when Tarkan Mustafa scored arguably the goal of the game. He received a good ball from Paul Terry on the right, ran at the Rovers defence and shot past Andy Warrington into the far corner of the net.


2003 Football Conference play-off Final, Match, Summary
Extra time was needed and, with legs tiring, it was Doncaster who got the golden goal. Paul Barnes broke away on the left and crossed for Francis Tierney, who sidefooted home to send his team back into the Football League. It is the only time in UK football that promotion has been decided by the controversial golden goal method, officially known as "Promotion Goal" in this match. The pitch was subsequently invaded by Doncaster Rovers fans, including one wearing an oversized jester's hat who managed to circle the ground before being caught by police.


2003 Football League Cup Final
The 2003 Football League Cup Final was a football match played between Liverpool and Manchester United on 2 March 2003 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2002–03 Football League Cup, the 43rd season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and The Football League. Liverpool were appearing in their ninth final; they had previously won six and lost two, while Manchester United were appearing in the final for the fifth time. They had previously won once and lost three times.


2003 Football League Cup Final
As both teams qualified for European football in 2002–03, they entered the competition in the third round. Liverpool's matches were generally close affairs, with only two victories secured by two goals or more. They beat Southampton 3–1 in the third round, while their match in the next round against Ipswich Town went to a penalty-shootout, which they won 5–4. Manchester United's matches were also close affairs, their biggest margin of victory of was by two goals. A 2–0 win over Burnley in the fourth round was followed by a 1–0 victory over Chelsea in the fifth round.


2003 Football League Cup Final
Watched by a crowd of 74,500, the first half was goalless until Liverpool took the lead in the 39th minute when midfielder Steven Gerrard scored. The score remained the same until the 86th minute when striker Michael Owen scored to make the score 2–0 to Liverpool. No further goals were scored and Liverpool won to secure their seventh League Cup victory.


2003 Football League Cup Final
Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek was awarded the Alan Hardaker Trophy as man of the match. Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier praised Dudek's performance and claimed that he had a premonition that Dudek would perform well in the match. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson also praised Dudek's performance, stating, "Their goalkeeper has won them the game."


2003 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Liverpool
As Liverpool were competing in the Premier League, they entered the competition in the third round and were drawn against fellow Premier League side Southampton. Despite resting a number of first-team players, Liverpool won 3–1 courtesy of goals from Patrik Berger, El-Hadji Diouf and Milan Baroš at their home ground Anfield. Their opposition in the fourth round were Ipswich Town. They took the lead in the 14th minute, in the match held at Anfield, when Tommy Miller scored. Diouf equalised in the 54th minute, but the score remained the same through full-time and extra-time to take the match to a penalty shootout. Liverpool won 5–4 to progress to the fifth round.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Liverpool
Fellow Premier League side Aston Villa were the opposition in the match at their home ground, Villa Park. They took the lead in the 20th minute when striker Darius Vassell scored a penalty. Midfielder Danny Murphy levelled the score seven minutes later. Liverpool took the lead in the second half when Baros scored and extended it when Steven Gerrard scored in the 67th minute. Two goals for Villa courtesy of midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger and an own goal by defender Stéphane Henchoz levelled the score at 3–3 late in the match. However, a Murphy goal in the 90th minute of the match meant Liverpool won 4–3 to progress to the semi-finals.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Liverpool
Their opposition were Sheffield United of the First Division in the semi-final, which was held over two-legs. The first leg at United's home ground Bramall Lane saw Liverpool take the lead in the 36th minute when striker Neil Mellor scored. However, two goals in the second half from United midfielder Michael Tonge meant they won the match 2–1. The second leg was held at Liverpool's home ground, Anfield. Liverpool took the lead in the ninth minute when Diouf scored. This levelled the tie at 2–2 and as no further goals were scored upon reaching full-time, the match went into extra-time. Liverpool extended their lead in the 107th minute when striker Michael Owen scored. No further goals were scored in the remaining minutes of extra-time and Liverpool progressed to the final courtesy of a 3–2 aggregate victory.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Manchester United
First Division side Leicester City were the opposition as United entered the competition in the third round, due to being in the Premier League. The match, held at United's home ground Old Trafford, was goalless until the 80th minute when midfielder David Beckham scored from a penalty. They extended their lead in the 90th minute when Kieran Richardson scored to win the match 2–0.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Manchester United
United were drawn against First Division side Burnley in the fourth round. The match held at Burnley's home ground, Turf Moor, saw United take the lead in the 35th minute when striker Diego Forlán scored. They extended their lead in the 65th minute when striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored to secure a 2–0 victory for United. Fellow Premier League side Chelsea were the opposition in the quarter-final. A goal in the 80th minute by striker Forlán was enough to secure a 1–0 victory and progression to the semi-final.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Manchester United
United were drawn against fellow Premier League side Blackburn Rovers in the semi-final. The first leg at Old Trafford was goalless in the first half, but United took the lead in the 58th minute when midfielder Paul Scholes scored. However, three minutes later Blackburn equalised when David Thompson scored. The match finished at 1–1. The second leg held at Blackburn's home ground, Ewood Park, saw them take the lead when striker Andy Cole scored early in the match. However, United responded and two goals from Scholes in the remainder of the first half gave United the lead. They scored a third in the second half when striker Ruud van Nistelrooy converted a penalty. United won the match 3–1 and progressed to the final after winning the tie 4–2.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Background
Liverpool were appearing in their ninth final they had won six (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001) and lost two (1978, 1987). This was Manchester United's fifth appearance in the final. They had won once in 1992 and lost three times in 1983, 1991 and 1994. The teams had met once before in the 1983 final, a match which Liverpool won 2–1. The last match between the two sides before the final was on 1 December 2002, which United won 2–1 courtesy of goals from striker Diego Forlán. Both sides last match before the final was in European competition. Liverpool beat French team Auxerre 2–0 in the second leg of their 2002–03 UEFA Cup fourth round tie, while United beat Italian team Juventus 3–0 in the second group stage of the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Background
Liverpool midfielder Vladimír Šmicer was looking forward to playing a part in the final: "Everyone wants to play in the final, I'm no different. I was just happy to be on the pitch against Auxerre because I didn't know even the day before whether I'd be fit enough after my injury problem. I'm still not 100% fit, I just wanted to train well this week and be fit for the final." Šmicer was hopeful that victory in the final would rescue Liverpool's season: "I hope that this re-ignites our season.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Background
Our season is not good, we know, but there is still plenty to play for. We have not said this is a bad season, let's forget about it and concentrate on the next one, we have been criticised and we are intent on responding on the pitch." Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy was eager to win the match: "Winning in Cardiff would be a massive result for us, we have to be honest, we haven't been as good as Manchester United over the last 10 years. And winning would bring European football next year, which isn't guaranteed at the moment."


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Background
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that captain Roy Keane would return to his midfield role after playing in central defence in their win over Juventus: "It took Roy about 15 minutes to settle into Tuesday's game but once he started to make sure he could see his opponent, he grasped the role very quickly, in the end, he could have played with a bowler hat and white gloves on it was so easy for him.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Background
He is a marvellous player and choosing him in defence is certainly an option but Mikaël Silvestre and John O'Shea should be fit and I have a back four in my mind." The final was United's first since the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final and Ferguson was determined to win: That is too long for us, and we are delighted. We have always looked at the League Cup as an extra to blood young players, but the format now has encouraged teams to have a go. We've played Liverpool once in Cardiff – in the Charity Shield – and lost so I hope this time it will be a different result."


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Background
Both sides had injury concerns heading into the final. Liverpool defender Stéphane Henchoz was a doubt after he suffered a thigh injury in Liverpool's win over Auxerre. However, Liverpool midfielder Šmicer had recovered from an ankle problem and would be available for selection. United had a number of injury concerns. Wes Brown, Scholes and Ryan Giggs were all doubts for the final, after they had picked up knocks in the week before the final. They would also be without striker Diego Forlán, who had injured his ankle against Juventus, however, defender Mikaël Silvestre was declared fit to start.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, First half
Liverpool kicked off the match and they had first chance of the match in the fourth minute, but the free-kick by midfielder Murphy was caught by United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. Defender Henchoz was shown a yellow card in the 12th minute and United midfielder Giggs had the first shot of the match, which was saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek. Twice in the next few minutes, Liverpool had chances from moves down the right-hand side of the pitch. On both occasions, however, the pass into the penalty area was intercepted. United had a chance to score in the 20th minute. Keane passed to Scholes, who found Giggs on the left-hand side of the pitch. His cross into the penalty area found striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, but his shot went wide of the Liverpool goal.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, First half
Liverpool began to get a foothold in the match after 30 minutes, their best chance came in the 36th minute when a shot by Murphy went over the crossbar. Three minutes later, their approach paid off as they scored. A long-range shot from Steven Gerrard deflected off United midfielder David Beckham and into the United goal to give Liverpool a 1–0 lead. Three minutes after the goal, United had a chance to equalise: A shot by midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón was saved by Dudek, but the ball rebounded to Scholes, but his subsequent shot was blocked by Henchoz. After a free-kick by Beckham just before half-time was saved by Dudek, Liverpool counter-attacked through midfielder El Hadji Diouf down the right-hand side of the pitch, though his subsequent cross into the penalty area was intercepted by Keane.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Second half
Almost immediately after the restart, Liverpool had the first attack. Striker Michael Owen went past United defender Brown, but he was unable to shoot when the ball got stuck in between his feet. A minute later, Liverpool had an appeal for a penalty after striker Emile Heskey went down in the United penalty area, but referee Paul Durkin did not award a penalty. They had another chance in the 52nd minute after an exchange of passes between Murphy and Heskey, but Murphy's shot went over the bar. United began to exert more pressure on Liverpool after this.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Second half
A minute later a shot by Keane was blocked by Liverpool defender Sami Hyypiä. The ball went out for a United, which resulted in a throw-in, that was headed into the arms of Dudek. Five minutes later, Van Nistelrooy had a chance to score as he turned and shot at the Liverpool goal, but it was saved by Dudek. Heskey was replaced by striker Milan Baroš following an injury.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Second half
United had another chance in the 66th minute when Verón crossed from the right-hand side of the pitch to Scholes, but his shot was saved by Dudek. A Liverpool attack in the 72nd minute ended after Baros put the ball out for a goal-kick. From the subsequent kick, Barthez found Giggs, who ran through the middle of the pitch, but his pass to Beckham was intercepted by Liverpool. United subsequently replaced Brown with striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Match, Second half
United had an appeal for a penalty in the 77th minute when Scholes went down near Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann, but Durkin turned down the appeal. Minutes later, Van Nistelrooy had another chance to score, but his shot from inside the Liverpool penalty area was saved by Dudek. Five minutes later, Liverpool scored through Owen. A pass by Silvestre was intercepted by Liverpool, Hamann passed to Owen, who beat Barthez to give Liverpool a 2–0 lead. Four minutes later, Liverpool had a chance to extend their lead, but Šmicer, who had replaced Baroš, missed the target. No further goals were scored and Liverpool won 2–0 to win the League Cup for the seventh time.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
Following the match, Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier claimed he had a premonition that goalkeeper Dudek would be the hero of the final: "I told Jerzy three days ago 'I can feel you will be the hero. You were too unlucky when we played them, today he was man of the match. But football can be like that. Sometimes you can be at the bottom and then be a hero again. I just had a feeling. I'm a great believer that when you have the right attitude everything else follows.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
He had a good run after the World Cup but then he made some mistakes and we had to support him. The squad get on very well. There was no finger-pointing after that game. He has saved us before in games and we had to keep faith in him." Houllier also praised Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson: "I wished him the best in the Champions League because he represents the best in English football, he congratulated every Liverpool player after the final whistle and that shows that he is not just a great manager but a great man."


2003 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
United manager Ferguson also praised Dudek's performance in the match: "Their goalkeeper has won them the game, sometimes you just have to put your hands up on these occasions. Dudek has won them the cup. He deserved to be man of the match. We didn't get a break. Dudek's performance encouraged them to stay near their penalty box. In tough games like that the first goal is very important. It's a test for us. We can either accept defeat or we can fight back."


2003 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
Captain Keane was disappointed with the defeat: "The players, managers, staff are all upset but I suppose nowhere near as bad as the fans, if you don't win a match in football you feel as though you have let the fans down." His focus turned to United's participation in the UEFA Champions League, as they looked to end the season with a trophy: "It would have been nice to get a piece of silverware in the cabinet, especially with the opposition being Liverpool, we've just got to lick our wounds.


2003 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
We've got a game against Leeds on Wednesday and we'll get on with training for Wednesday. The players know we'll have to get together, get ready and try to keep the pressure on Arsenal. But we are eight points behind them, which puts them in a very strong position and again we are pinning our hopes on the European Cup, which is a dangerous game to play as we saw last season."


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final
The 2003 Football League First Division play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 26 May 2003 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Sheffield United and Wolverhampton Wanderers. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League First Division, the second tier of English football, to the FA Premier League.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final
The top two teams of the 2002–03 Football League First Division season gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the clubs placed from third to sixth place in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; Sheffield United ended the season in third position while Wolverhampton Wanderers finished fifth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2003–04 season in the Premier League. Reading and Nottingham Forest were the losing semi-finalists.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final
The 2003 final was played in front of a crowd of 69,473 and was refereed by Steve Bennett. Mark Kennedy opened the scoring for Wolves after six minutes with a shot from distance. They doubled their lead in the 22nd minute when Nathan Blake headed in a corner from Kenny Miller. Just before half-time, Miller made it 3–0 after converting a cross from Miller. At half-time, Neil Warnock, the Sheffield United manager, was sent off for repeatedly complaining about the performance of the referee. His side was awarded a penalty early in the second half, but Wolves goalkeeper Matt Murray saved Michael Brown's strike. Wolves won the match 3–0, taking them back to the top flight for the first time in nearly 20 years. Murray was named man of the match.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final
Wolves ended the next season bottom of the Premier League and were relegated back to the second tier of English football for the 2004–05 season. Sheffield United ended their following season in eighth place in the First Division, missing out on the play-offs by two points.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Sheffield United finished the regular 2002–03 season in third place in the Football League First Division, the second tier of the English football league system, two places and two points ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Premier League and instead took part in the play-offs, along with Reading and Nottingham Forest, to determine the third promoted team. Sheffield United finished twelve points behind Leicester City (who were promoted in second place) and eighteen behind league winners Portsmouth. Sheffield United had also reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Wolves faced Reading in their play-off semi-final and the first leg was played at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton on 10 May 2003. Midway through the first half, the visitors took the lead with Nicky Forster converting a cross from Nicky Shorey. Shaun Newton, a second-half substitute for Wolves, then struck a shot past Marcus Hahnemann in the Reading goal to level the match. With six minutes remaining, Wolves took the lead with a free kick from Lee Naylor, and the match ended 2–1. The second leg was played four days later at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. After a goalless first half, Alex Rae who had come as a second half substitute, scored with a shot from around 15 yards (14 m), giving Wolves a 1–0 win and a 3–1 aggregate victory.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Sheffield United's opponents for their play-off semi-final were Nottingham Forest, with the first leg taking place at the City Ground in Nottingham on 10 May 2003. In the first half, Marlon Harewood hit the bar for Forest while Carl Asaba miskicked to miss an open goal, and both teams went into the break goalless. Ten minutes into the second half, David Johnson latched onto a deflected pass from Andy Reid and scored past Paddy Kenny to put the home team ahead.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Within two minutes, the score was level: Michael Brown was fouled by Matthieu Louis-Jean and the former scored the subsequent penalty to make it 1–1. Late in the match, Michael Dawson was sent off for a foul on Steve Kabba, making him unavailable for the second leg. The second leg took place five days later at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. Johnson opened the scoring after half an hour following a defensive error by John Curtis.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Reid then doubled Forest's lead in the 58th minute with a volley, but Sheffield United responded almost immediately with Brown scoring with a deflection off Forest defender Des Walker. Kabba then equalised eight minutes later with a strike from around 15 yards (14 m). The match ended 2–2 and went into extra time. Paul Peschisolido scored for Sheffield United with eight minutes remaining before Des Walker's own goal made it 4–2. Despite a Rob Page own goal with a minute remaining, the match ended 4–3 and Sheffield United progressed to the final with a 5–4 aggregate victory.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Background
This was Sheffield United's second appearance in the second tier play-off final, having lost the 1997 Football League First Division play-off Final 1–0 to Crystal Palace. Wolves were making their fourth appearance in the play-offs but this was the first time they had progressed beyond the semi-final. Brown was Sheffield United's top scorer with 16 league goals during the regular season, while Kenny Miller was Wolves' leading marksman with 19.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Background
Wolves had last played in the top tier of English football in the 1983–84 season when they were relegated, finishing bottom of the division, 12 points adrift of Notts County above them. Sheffield United had played in the second tier since being relegated from the Premier League in the 1993–94 season.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Background
Before the match, Wolves manager Dave Jones spoke of the speculation over his position: "I try not to read anything in the papers which is about myself because if I read everything about what everybody thinks of me I'd end up going mad ... I've been likened to a murderer in Coronation Street and then someone out of Brookside ... We have one game to go now and if it does not happen for us then an awful lot is going to be written about me and the club".


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Background
His chairman, Jack Hayward, had owned the club for 13 years without promotion and suggested he would consider his position should Wolves not be promoted this time. Denis Irwin, Wolves' 38-year-old defender, suggested that even if his side won promotion, he would possibly retire rather than participate in the Premier League: "I'm not getting any younger and I wouldn't want to be in the Premiership if I didn't feel I could do myself justice".


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Background
Kenny, Sheffield United's goalkeeper and player of the year, was determined to stake a claim for an international call-up for the Republic of Ireland national football team, and suggested that Premier League football would be beneficial: "If I was playing regular Premiership football next season, it do my chances of an Ireland call-up no harm".


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Background
In their first meeting of the regular season Sheffield United had won 3–1 at Molineux in October 2002. The return game was the sides' penultimate league match of the season and ended in a 3–3 draw at Bramall Lane. The referee for the final was Steve Bennett representing the Kent County Football Association. Winning the final was estimated by the BBC to be worth up to £15–20 million to the successful team. It was the third time the second tier play-off final was hosted by the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Background
George Ndah was expected to be available for selection for Wolves, after suffering a knee injury, while Sheffield United's Stuart McCall had recovered from an ankle injury. Dean Windass was omitted from the United squad and opted not to travel with the team to the Millennium Stadium. Bookmakers were unable to choose a clear favourite, suggesting either team were equally likely to win the match. The match was broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
The match kicked off at 3 p.m. on 26 May 2003 in front of a Millennium Stadium crowd of 69,473. After four minutes, Nathan Blake dragged his shot wide of the Sheffield United goal. Two minutes later, Mark Kennedy opened the scoring for Wolves with a low drive into the corner of the net from 20 yards (18 m) after receiving a pass from Miller. In the 12th minute, Kenny caught a back-header from Phil Jagielka just ahead of Blake.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
Peter Ndlovu's strike for Sheffield United on 17 minutes went wide of the Wolves goal and despite United having more possession, Wolves doubled their lead in the 22nd minute: Colin Cameron's shot was deflected behind by Kenny, and Blake headed in from close range from the resulting Miller corner. In the 36th minute, a cross from Curtis found Ndlovu in the Wolves penalty area, but Joleon Lescott cleared the danger. Three minutes later, Matt Murray was forced to make a save to prevent Paul Ince scoring an own goal. Irwin was then booked for a foul on Ndlovu, before Wolves established a three-goal lead shortly before the half time interval when Miller converted a cross from Newton.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
The Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock was sent to the stands at half time after repeatedly criticising the referee. United made the first substitution of the game at the start of the second half, with McCall coming on to replace Mark Rankine. A minute later, Bennett awarded United a penalty after adjudging that Wolves' defender Paul Butler had handled the ball. However, Brown's spotkick was pushed away by goalkeeper Murray. Despite having the majority of the possession, United were unable to score and in the 64th minute made their second change of the afternoon with Ndlovu being replaced by Peschisolido.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
Murray saved a Peschisolido header before pushing a Michael Tonge free kick onto the post, the rebound being struck over the bar by Page. United made their final substitution of the game in the 74th minute, with Wayne Allison coming on to replace Asaba. A minute later, Wolves made their first change of the afternoon, with Dean Sturridge replacing Miller. Tonge and then Brown were both shown a yellow card and in the 88th minute, Wolves' Adam Proudlock was brought on in place of Blake. No further goals were scored as the match ended 3–0 to Wolves who secured their place in the top tier of English football for the first time in almost 20 years.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Post-match
The Wolves' chairman Hayward said "it was the proudest moment of his life" and that "it's a dream come true. They played terrific". Winning manager Jones noted: "When you see the support we get it is absolutely magnificent. We were superb in the first half attacking-wise and finishing and in the second half we defended well". He went on to say: "I was very proud to lead them out. I just wish I could've worn a kit and played in it, that was the only thing that was missing".


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Post-match
His counterpart, Warnock, was gracious in defeat and praised the performance of his opposition: "Wolves were worthy winners ... We did not do the things we done all season, but I don't want to take anything from Wolves". Reluctant to discuss the details of his dismissal at half time, he noted: "The referee asked me to go upstairs, but you will have to ask him about it." He later described the aftermath of his sending-off, saying it was "pretty horrific, I didn't want to socialise. Then when the chairman asked me to say a few words to the team, I had nowt to say".


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Post-match
Murray, the Wolves goalkeeper, was named as man of the match. The match was inducted into the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. Hall of Fame in 2011 as "a way of recognising an occasion that will forever live in the memories of Wolves fans, whether they were at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff or watched the game against Sheffield United on TV". Winning the final was later estimated by Deloitte to be worth £40 million to Wolves when comparing their First Division matchday, commercial and broadcasting income to that in their following season in the Premier League.


2003 Football League First Division play-off Final, Post-match
Wolves ended the next season bottom of the Premier League, six points from safety, and were relegated back to the second tier of English football for the 2004–05 season. Sheffield United ended their following season in eighth place in the First Division, two points outside the play-offs.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final
The 2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final was a football match played at the Millennium Stadium on 25 May 2003, at the end of the 2002–03 season. The match determined the third and final team to gain promotion from the English Second Division to the First Division, and was contested by fourth-placed Queens Park Rangers and sixth-placed Cardiff City. The teams reached the final by defeating Oldham Athletic and Bristol City respectively in the play-off semi-finals.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final
The redevelopment of Wembley Stadium meant that Football League play-off final matches held between 2001 and 2006 were played in Cardiff. Both teams were playing at the Millennium Stadium for the first time. The only goal of the game was scored in extra time by Cardiff substitute Andy Campbell who chipped opposition goalkeeper Chris Day to secure promotion for the club to the second tier for the first time since 1985.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Route to the final
The Second Division title was won by Wigan Athletic, who accumulated a club record 100 points. Crewe Alexandra claimed the second automatic promotion place with Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers (QPR), Oldham Athletic and Cardiff City finishing between third and sixth to enter the play-offs.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Queens Park Rangers, who had been relegated to the Second Division two years before, finished the 2002–03 season in fourth place with 83 points. In the play-off semi-finals,  QPR faced fifth placed side Oldham Athletic. The first leg was played at Oldham's Boundary Park on 10 May 2003, David Eyres giving Oldham the lead direct from a free-kick. Early in the second half, QPR midfielder Richard Langley equalised before being sent off with ten minutes remaining after a second bookable offence following a confrontation with Eyres. The second leg was played three days later and ended in a 1–0 victory for QPR after Paul Furlong scored the only goal of the game in the 82nd minute, giving his side a 2–1 aggregate victory.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Cardiff City finished the regular season in sixth place with 81 points, securing the final play-off place with a 1–1 draw against already promoted Crewe Alexandra. Robert Earnshaw's goal in the match broke Stan Richards' club record for league goals scored in a single season and ensured Cardiff gained the single point needed to finish above seventh placed Tranmere Rovers. In the play-off semi-final, Cardiff met Severnside rivals Bristol City. Peter Thorne headed in a Willie Boland cross to score the only goal of the first leg and give Cardiff a 1–0 advantage. Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Alexander was credited with a series of saves in the second leg to deny Bristol an equaliser as the match finished goalless, allowing Cardiff to advance after winning the tie 1–0 on aggregate.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
The two teams were competing for promotion to the First Division, the second tier of the English football league system. Traditionally, play-off final matches were held at Wembley Stadium in London but the redevelopment of the ground saw the matches moved to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff during the construction works. Neither Cardiff or QPR had ever played a match at the ground.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
In previous years, the British national anthem God Save the Queen had been sung by during the pre-match ceremony. As Cardiff are a Welsh team, enquiries were made to the Football League regarding the Welsh national anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau also being sung but was rejected with the Football League stating that the match was "a club game, not an international fixture." This was despite both anthems being played prior to the 1997 Football League Third Division play-off Final when another Welsh team, Swansea City, played at the original Wembley Stadium.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan criticised the decision commenting that anthems should not be a part of the match but if they were then both should be played. Three days before the match, the Football League announced that no anthems would be played before the match or the First Division and Third Division play-off finals, spokesman John Nagle commenting "playing of the anthem this weekend has become a subject of some controversy. This has begun to detract from both the games themselves [...] this should clearly not be the case." The teams were instead allowed to play their club songs 30 minutes prior to kick-off, Cardiff selecting Men of Harlech and QPR Pig Bag.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
QPR manager Ian Holloway made one change from the side that started their play-off semi-final second leg with Richard Pacquette replacing Andy Thomson, while Richard Langley served the second match of his ban following his sending off in the first leg. Before the match, striker Paul Furlong stated his belief that the pressure was on Cardiff to win and described Rangers as underdogs. As Cardiff won a coin toss to decide which team would wear their home colours, QPR chose to wear an all white strip rather than their normal red and black away kit in reference to the strip worn by the QPR side that won the 1967 Football League Cup Final.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
The night before the match, members of QPR's team were woken at 3am by a fire alarm being triggered at their hotel, the Celtic Manor Resort. The perpetrator was later arrested and named as Neil McNamara, a Cardiff City fan who had previously worked for the club as a minder for chairman Sam Hammam. He was charged with criminal damage and making a false and malicious fire call. McNamara pled guilty to the charges and was given a five-year banning order after judges ruled the act was committed deliberately to disrupt the QPR squad. QPR player Richard Langley described the actions as "very unsporting".


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
Hammam stated before the game that he would provide a £30 million transfer budget if the club achieved promotion and a planned new stadium at Leckwith received approval. Hammam also called on fans of Cardiff's South Wales rivals Swansea City to support the side and described the match as "for the whole of Wales". However, Holloway refuted Hammam's call for Swansea fans to back Cardiff, calling them something "that should be in a Mills & Boon novel".


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
Although playing in their home city, Cardiff players stayed at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel and Country Club the night prior to the match. Defender Andy Legg commented that the team was "a bag of nerves" beforehand but believed that the match being played in the city of Cardiff made the occasion "extra special". Striker Andy Campbell was a major doubt to feature in the match having struggled with a hernia during the season.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Pre-match
Several days prior to the match he decided to have an operation in the hope of being fit to play and was passed fit just before kick-off to take a place on the bench. Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence made no changes from the second-leg of their play-off semi-final against Bristol and named the same starting eleven and substitutes from the match, choosing to leave out loan player Gareth Ainsworth who missed both legs of the play-off semi-final through suspension.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
Cardiff started the better of the two sides as Robert Earnshaw, Graham Kavanagh and Peter Thorne all had chances at goal in the opening ten minutes of the match. Kevin Gallen forced a save from Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Alexander from a free-kick soon after and a slip by Danny Gabbidon in the 26th minute allowed Paul Furlong space to shoot but he was unable to hit the target. Cardiff had the majority of possession during the first-half but strikers Earnshaw and Thorne struggled to beat QPR's central defenders Danny Shittu and Clarke Carlisle who received significant praise for their control of the game. The match remained 0–0 at half-time, both sides being described as "tense" and "nervy".


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
In the second half, QPR began to seize control and Gallen wasted an early chance by shooting straight at Alexander after being played through by Furlong. The pair both missed chances in the second half as QPR began to dominate the match. In the 79th minute, Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence decided to substitute Earnshaw in place of Andy Campbell. The substitution was seen as a significant gamble by Lawrence, Earnshaw's 35 goals in all competitions during the season had broken a club record that had stood since 1927 and Campbell had not scored since January 2003.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
However, Cardiff's approach to the game had limited Earnshaw and Thorne's support to high passes that favoured QPR's physically larger defenders. In the final minute of the game, a misjudged header by Cardiff defender Spencer Prior fell to opposition substitute Andy Thomson but he could only direct his header wide of the goal.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
After finishing 0–0 after 90 minutes, the match entered extra time. In the first half of extra time, QPR goalkeeper Chris Day produced a save to deny Prior from scoring with a header. With less than ten minutes remaining of extra time, Carlisle's forward pass was intercepted by Cardiff midfielder Gareth Whalley who played a long pass over the head of Shittu, into the path of Campbell. Hitting the ball with his left foot, Campbell lifted the ball over Day and into the net. Once the teams restarted, Cardiff defended their lead for the remaining six minutes to win the match.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Aftermath
The match attendance was recorded as 66,096. Around 8,000 seats were kept empty by organisers in order to ensure sufficient segregation between opposition fans and QPR returned around 1,000 of their 32,000 ticket allocation that were unsold. Cardiff sold out their 33,903 ticket allocation. The two clubs both received 25% of the ticket sales with the remaining half going to the Football League.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Aftermath
Following their victory, Cardiff manager Lawrence stated "It wasn't a classic match, but no one connected with Cardiff will ever forget it". In the ensuing celebrations, chairman Hammam was thrown into the team bath in the dressing room. The match would be defender Andy Legg's last for Cardiff as a contract dispute led to him leaving the club the following month.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Aftermath
Lawrence would remain with Cardiff for two further seasons in the First Division before being replaced at the end of the 2004–05 season. Cardiff would remain in the First Division (later renamed the Championship) for ten seasons before winning promotion to the Premier League in 2013.


2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Aftermath
After suffering defeat, QPR went on to win automatic promotion to the First Division the following season after finishing second behind Plymouth Argyle. Bristol City would again miss out on promotion after finishing third for the second consecutive season, finishing one point behind QPR. After achieving an 11th placed finish in their first season, Ian Holloway left the club during the following year having been placed on gardening leave due to continued speculation linking him with a job at Leicester City. Seven years later, Holloway met Cardiff in the 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final  while manager of Blackpool, winning promotion to the Premier League following a 3–2 victory. QPR went on to win promotion to the Premier League in 2012.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final
The 2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 24 May 2003 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, between Bournemouth and Lincoln City to determine the fourth and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Third Division to the Second Division. The top three teams of the 2002–03 Third Division season, Rushden & Diamonds, Hartlepool United and Wrexham, gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while those placed from fourth to seventh place in the table took part in play-offs. The winners of the semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2003–04 season in the Second Division. Bournemouth and Lincoln City defeated Bury and Scunthorpe United, respectively, in the semi-finals.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final
The final kicked off around 3 p.m. in front of a crowd of 32,148 and was refereed by Alan Kaye. In the 29th minute, Bournemouth took the lead through Steve Fletcher with a volley past Alan Marriott, the Lincoln goalkeeper. Ben Futcher equalised six minutes later from close range from a corner but one minute into first-half stoppage time, Carl Fletcher scored with a header to make it 2–1 to Bournemouth. Eleven minutes into the second half, Bournemouth scored after a counter-attack when Stephen Purches volleyed in a cross from Wade Elliott. Four minutes later Garreth O'Connor made it 4–1. In the 75th minute, Lincoln scored through Mark Bailey but just over a minute later, Fletcher scored his second, a header from O'Connor's free kick, to make the score 5–2 to Bournemouth, the final score.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final
Bournemouth ended their following season in ninth position in the Second Division, three places and seven points below the play-offs. Lincoln City's finished in seventh place in the Third Division in their next season but were knocked out of the play-offs in the semi-final, losing 4–3 on aggregate to Huddersfield Town.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Bournemouth finished the regular 2002–03 season in fourth place in the Football League Third Division, the fourth tier of the English football league system, two positions and four points ahead of Lincoln City. Both therefore missed out on the three automatic places for promotion to the Second Division and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the fourth promoted team. Bournemouth ten points behind Wrexham (who were promoted in third place), eleven behind Hartlepool United (who were promoted in second) and thirteen behind league winners Rushden & Diamonds.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Lincoln City's opponents for their play-off semi-final were Scunthorpe United with the first match of the two-legged tie taking place at Sincil Bank in Lincoln on 10 May 2003. Simon Weaver put Lincoln ahead in the 15th minute with a header from close range and Paul Mayo doubled the lead three minutes later with a volley. Alejandro Calvo García reduced the deficit in the 26th minute when he scored from Peter Beagrie's free kick and the half ended 2–1.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Paul Smith extended Lincoln's lead ten minutes after the interval from close range but Calvo García scored his second midway through the half to make it 3–2 to Lincoln. Nathan Stanton then struck from inside Lincoln's penalty area to level the match with his first goal for his club but two late goals from substitute Simon Yeo made the final score 5–3 to Lincoln. The second leg was held four days later at Glanford Park in Scunthorpe. The home side dominated the first half but it ended goalless. Once again Yeo came on as a second-half substitute for Lincoln and scored with two minutes to give his side a 1–0 win and a 6–3 aggregate victory.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Route to the final
In the other semi-final, Bournemouth faced Bury and the first leg was played at Gigg Lane in Bury on 10 May 2003. The home side dominated the first half but were reduced to ten men when Jamie Stuart was sent off in stoppage time for a push on Wade Elliott after the pair had been involved in an altercation after a high tackle from Elliott. Bournemouth increased the pressure in the second half but could not break the deadlock and the match ended goalless. The second leg took place three days later at Dean Court in Bournemouth.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Garreth O'Connor opened the scoring in the 21st minute with a low strike past Glyn Garner in the Bury goal. James Hayter then doubled Bournemouth's lead with a diving header from Elliott's cross. In the 60th minute, Hayter scored his second, converting a pass from O'Connor at close range.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Route to the final
Andy Preece, who had come on as a substitute for Bury at half-time, scored midway through the second half, lobbing the ball in after a pass from Michael Nelson, but it was to be a consolation goal as the match ended 3–1 and Bournemouth progressed to the final with the same aggregate sccore.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Match, Background
Both Lincoln City and Bournemouth were making their first appearance in the play-offs. Bournemouth had been relegated to the Third Division the previous season and thus were aiming to make an immediate return to the Second Division. Lincoln City had played in the Third Division since suffering relegation from the Second Division in the 1998–99 season. During the regular season, both matches between the sides had ended in wins for the visiting teams: Bournemouth won 2–1 at Sincil Bank in October 2002 while Lincoln City secured a 1–0 victory at Dean Court the following April.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Match, Background
Hayter was Bournemouth's leading scorer in the regular season with 11 goals in total (8 in the league, 1 in the 2002–03 FA Cup and 2 in the Football League Trophy). Lincoln City's top scorer was Ben Futcher who had scored 10 goals (8 in the league, 1 in the FA Cup and 1 in the Football League Trophy).


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Match, Background
The referee for the match, which was shown live in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports, was Alan Kaye.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
The match kicked off around 3 p.m. on 24 May 2003 at the Millennium Stadium under a closed roof in front of a crowd of 32,148. The early stages of the game were described as "uninspiring" by the BBC with neither side dominant, with Bournemouth's Elliott and Stephen Purches coming closest to scoring coming. In the 29th minute, Bournemouth took the lead through Steve Fletcher. He beat Futcher in a race to the ball from Marcus Browning and volleyed it past Alan Marriott, the Lincoln goalkeeper. Futcher scored the equaliser six minutes later when he scored from close range from a corner. One minute into first-half stoppage time, Carl Fletcher flicked a header in from an O'Connor cross to make it 2–1 to Bournemouth at half time.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Match, Summary
Neither side made any changes to their personnel during the interval and eleven minutes into the second half, Bournemouth extended their lead. Neil Moss, the Bournemouth goalkeeper, punched the ball clear which enabled his side to counter-attack and Elliott's cross was volleyed into the Lincoln goal by Purches. Four minutes later it was 4–1 after O'Connor ran onto Steve Fletcher's pass, beat Futcher and struck the ball past Marriott. In the 75th minute, Lincoln reduced the deficit when second-half substitute Chris Cornelly's cross was headed into the Bournemouth net by Mark Bailey. Just over a minute later, Fletcher scored with a header from O'Connor's free kick to make the score 5–2 to Bournemouth, which it remained to the final whistle.


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Post-match
The Bournemouth manager Sean O'Driscoll said: "I'm delighted for everybody ... Both teams don't score that many goals so we have kept the best till last, but we have another gear to go up now". His counterpart Keith Alexander was disappointed: "I'm proud with what we have done but if we had defended like that all season we would have been relegated."


2003 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Post-match
Bournemouth ended their following season in ninth position in the Second Division, three places and seven points below the play-offs. Lincoln City's finished in seventh place in the Third Division in their next season but were knocked out of the play-offs in the semi-final, losing 4–3 on aggregate to Huddersfield Town.


2003 Football League Trophy Final
The 2003 Football League Trophy Final (known as the LDV Vans Trophy for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th final of the Football League Trophy – a domestic football cup competition for teams from the Football League Second and Third Division. The match was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, and was contested by Bristol City and Carlisle United on 6 April 2003. Bristol City won the match 2–0.


2003 Football League play-offs
The Football League play-offs for the 2002–03 season were held in May 2003, with the finals taking place at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The play-off semi-finals will be played over two legs and will be contested by the teams who finish in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place in the Football League First Division and Football League Second Division and the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th placed teams in the Football League Third Division table. The winners of the semi-finals will go through to the finals, with the winner of the matches gaining promotion for the following season.


2003 Football League play-offs, Background
The Football League play-offs have been held every year since 1987. They take place for each division following the conclusion of the regular season and are contested by the four clubs finishing below the automatic promotion places.


2003 Football League play-offs, Background
In the First Division, Sheffield United, who are aiming to return to the top flight for the first time since 1994, finished 12 points behind second placed Leicester City, who in turn finished 6 points behind champions Portsmouth, who returned to the top flight for the first time since 1988. Reading who are aiming for a place in the top flight for the first time in their history, finished in fourth place in the table. Wolverhampton Wanderers, who are aiming to return to the top flight after nearly 20 years outside the top flight, finished in fifth place. Nottingham Forest finished 2 points behind Wolverhampton Wanderers and were looking for a place back in the Premiership for the first time since 1999.


2003 Ford 400
The 2003 Ford 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on November 16, 2003, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, United States. This was the last race ever under the "Winston Cup" name.


2003 Ford 400, Summary
It took almost three and a half hours for Bobby Labonte to defeat Kevin Harvick by nearly 1.8 seconds in front of 75000 fans. The race was dominated by Bill Elliott, who led 189 out of 267 laps, but he cut a tire on the next to last turn of the last lap while leading and finished 8th. NASCAR officials handed out ten cautions for 60 laps while 21 different changes in the lead position were made. Matt Kenseth  earned the last-place position on the 28th lap of this 267-lap racing event. Drivers who failed to make the race were Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty, Mike Wallace, Derrike Cope, and Rich Bickle. The race was plagued with oil issues and accidents, while debris caused only one caution throughout the race.


2003 Ford 400, Summary
Jamie McMurray qualified for the pole position, driving at speeds up to 181.111 miles per hour (291.470 km/h), while the average speed for the actual race was 116.868 miles per hour (188.081 km/h). This was Ron Hornaday Jr.'s last NASCAR Winston Cup Series race until Atlanta in 2015.


2003 Fordham Rams football team
The 2003 Fordham Rams football team was an American football team that represented Fordham University during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. A year after winning the conference championship, Fordham tied for third in the Patriot League.


2003 Fordham Rams football team
In their fifth and final year under head coach Dave Clawson, the Rams compiled a 9–3 record. Kevin Eakin, Colby Khuns, Dan McGrath and Kirwin Watson were the team captains.


2003 Fordham Rams football team
The Rams outscored opponents 386 to 251. Their 4–3 conference record tied for third out of eight in the Patriot League standings.


2003 Fordham Rams football team
The Rams were ranked No. 13 in the preseason Division I-AA national poll, and moved up and down in the rankings during the year, reaching as high as No. 9 and dropping to No. 25 on two occasions, including the final week of the season. After that last game, Fordham dropped farther and finished the year unranked.


2003 Fordham Rams football team
Fordham played its home games at Jack Coffey Field on the university's Rose Hill campus in The Bronx, in New York City.


2003 Formula 3 Euro Series
The 2003 Formula 3 Euro Series season was the first championship year of Europe's premier Formula Three series. The championship consisted of ten rounds – each with two races – held at a variety of European circuits. Each weekend consisted of 1 hour and 30 minutes of free practice on Friday – in either one or two sessions – and two 30-minute qualifying sessions. This was followed by a c.110 km race on Saturday and a c.80 km race on Sunday. Each qualifying session awarded one bonus point for pole position and each race awarded points for the top eight finishers, with ten points per win. It commenced on April 26, 2003 at Hockenheimring and ended on October 26 at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.


2003 Formula 3 Euro Series, Season standings, Drivers Standings
† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.


2003 Formula 3 Euro Series, Season standings, Rookie Cup
Rookie drivers are only eligible for the Rookie Cup title if they have not previously competed in a national or international Formula 3 championship.


2003 Formula 3 Sudamericana season
The 2003 Formula 3 Sudamericana season was the 17th Formula 3 Sudamericana season. It began on 13 April 2003, at  Autódromo Internacional Orlando Moura at Campo Grande and ended on 16 November at Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet in Brasília. Brazilian driver Alberto Valério won the title.


2003 Formula BMW ADAC season
The 2003 Formula BMW ADAC season was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in 1.2 litre Formula BMW single seat race cars. The 2003 season was the sixth Formula BMW ADAC season organized by BMW Motorsport and ADAC. The season began at Hockenheimring on 26 April and finished at the same place on 5 October, after twenty races.


2003 Formula BMW ADAC season
Maximilian Götz was crowned series champion. Götz beat future Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel to the championship by 43 points, winning six races.


2003 Formula BMW ADAC season, 2003 Schedule
The series supported the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at nine rounds, with additional round at the European Grand Prix on 28–29 June.


2003 Formula BMW Asia season
The 2003 Formula BMW Asia season was held in 2003. It was won by the Meritus team, with Ho-Pin Tung. Tung claimed twelve pole positions and ten wins in 14 races during the course of the season, which spanned five countries.


2003 Formula BMW Asia season
Tung's reward was a test drive with the then BMW powered Williams F1 Team at the 4.428 kilometer (2.7 mile) Circuito de Jerez.


2003 Formula Ford Zetec Championship Series
The 2003 Formula Ford Zetec Championship Series was the third USF2000 Ford Zetec championship. PR1 Motorsports driver Jonathan Bomarito took the title in a Van Diemen RF03.


2003 Formula Nippon Championship
The 2003 Formula Nippon Championship was  contested over 10 rounds. 10 different teams and 21 different drivers competed. All teams had to use Lola chassis (Lola B3/51) and Mugen Honda (Mugen MF308) engines.


2003 Formula One World Championship
The 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 57th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 9 March 2003 and ended on 12 October after sixteen races. World Championship titles were awarded for both drivers and constructors with Michael Schumacher winning the former and Ferrari awarded the latter.


2003 Formula One World Championship
The 2003 season saw the introduction of new regulations intended to increase F1's excitement and to help alleviate the financial difficulties of the smaller teams. One-lap qualifying was introduced as a way for smaller teams to get more television exposure. Optional Friday testing at Grand Prix events was introduced in exchange for fewer miles on stand-alone test days. This was intended to give smaller teams a cheaper alternative to these test days, which were to be banned in 2004. Only one type of wet weather tyre was allowed to be used in wet weather races. The points system for both the Constructors' and Drivers' titles was changed from 10–6–4–3–2–1 for the first six finishers at each round to 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the first eight finishers in an attempt to make the title contests closer.


2003 Formula One World Championship
While Ferrari's Michael Schumacher had won the 2002 championship by 67 points from his teammate Rubens Barrichello, the 2003 season was much closer. For a great part of the 2003 season, several drivers from several teams had mathematical chances of winning the world championship. Eight different drivers won a Grand Prix, amongst them three first time winners. Kimi Räikkönen, driving for McLaren-Mercedes, and Juan Pablo Montoya, driving for BMW Williams, both had a chance of claiming the 2003 championship until late in the season, with Räikkönen still mathematically in contention at the final race, the Japanese Grand Prix.


2003 Formula One World Championship
Räikkönen lost the championship to Schumacher by two points, although he won only one race to Schumacher's six. It was Schumacher's sixth World Drivers' title overall, breaking Juan Manuel Fangio's 46-year-old record of five World Drivers' titles. Ferrari's defence of the Constructors' title was challenged throughout the year by Williams and McLaren, one of the few seasons where there were three front-running teams but in the end, Ferrari emerged victorious once again and the team clinched their fifth consecutive World Constructors' title since 1999.


2003 Formula One World Championship
Notable races include the chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix which was hampered by monsoon conditions, and the British Grand Prix where the track was invaded by the now-defrocked priest Neil Horan, who ran onto the Hangar straight, running towards the 250 km/h train of cars, wearing a green kilt and waving religious banners.


2003 Formula One World Championship
After failing to complete the 2002 season due to financial difficulties, the Arrows team had their application for admission to the 2003 championship rejected by the FIA prior to the season start date. No reason was publicly given by the FIA and Arrows subsequently folded after 25 years in Formula One since 1978.


2003 Formula One World Championship
2003 also saw a major leap forward in Formula One safety, with the HANS device being made a mandatory requirement for drivers to wear at all races beginning from the Australian Grand Prix onwards. However, this was not without controversy, as many drivers voiced their complaints about the device, including Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve, Justin Wilson and Nick Heidfeld.


2003 Formula One World Championship
The 2003 season is also notable for being the third and last season that fully-automatic gearboxes and launch control were allowed to be used in Formula One, since they were reintroduced in 2001. Both electronic driver aids had been used since the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix, and a rule-change in the technical regulations saw the FIA banning both systems for 2004.


2003 Formula One World Championship, Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship.


2003 Formula One World Championship, Teams and drivers
† All engines were required to have ten cylinders and an engine capacity not exceeding 3000 cc, and all were of V10 configuration.


2003 Formula One World Championship, Season calendar
The 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship was contested over the following sixteen races:


2003 Formula One World Championship, Results and standings, Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top eight finishing drivers and constructors as follows:


2003 Formula One World Championship, Results and standings, World Drivers' Championship standings
† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.


2003 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship
The 2003 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship was the 15th British Formula Renault Championship. The season began at Snetterton on 19 April and ended on 21 September at Oulton Park, after seventeen rounds held in England, with 5 events only staging one race and the rest staging two.


2003 Formula Renault 2000 Masters
The 2003 Formula Renault 2000 Masters season was the thirteenth Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season. The season began at Brno on 24 May and finished at the Donington Park on 26 October, after eight races. Cram Competition's Esteban Guerrieri who is also Argentine Formula Renault champion won three races on his way to the championship by a 36 point margin over Danish driver Robert Schlünssen, who won abandoned race at Assen. ASM's Simon Pagenaud was two points behind Schlünssen. Pagenaud also won second races on TT Circuit Assen. Other wins were scored by Paul Meijer, Ryan Sharp and Reinhard Kofler.


2003 Formula Renault 2000 Masters, Championship standings, Drivers
‡ Points were not awarded in the first race at Assen as race was abandoned after three laps due to massive crash.


2003 Formula Renault V6 Eurocup
The 2003 Formula Renault V6 Eurocup season began on April, 5 at Circuit de Catalunya. 2003 was the first season of this championship created by Renault as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends (ETCC and FIA GT Championship). The titles went to Argentinian driver José María López and French team ARTA-Signature.


2003 Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, Championship standings
Points are awarded in both race as following : 30, 24, 20, 14, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 2 bonus points for pole position and also for the fasted lap in each race. French Grand Race must be stopped. The half of the points are awarded for this race.


2003 Formula Renault seasons
This page describe all the 2003 seasons of Formula Renault series.


2003 Formula Volkswagen Germany season
The 2003 Formula Volkswagen Germany supported by ZF Sachs was the inaugural season of the Formula Volkswagen Germany. All drivers competed in Volkswagen powered, Dunlop shod Reynard chassis.


2003 Fort Lauderdale mayoral election
The 2003 Fort Lauderdale mayoral election was held on February 11, 2003,  to elect the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It saw the reelection of Jim Naugle.


2003 Fort Worth Bowl
The 2003 Fort Worth Bowl, the inaugural edition of the game, featured the Boise State Broncos, and the TCU Horned Frogs. The title sponsor for the game was PlainsCapital Bank.


2003 Fort Worth Bowl
TCU scored first when running back Corey Rodgers scored on a 3-yard touchdown run, giving TCU the early 7–0 lead. Boise State responded when quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie connected with T.J. Acree for a 27-yard touchdown pass tying the game at 7. TCU reclaimed the lead at 14–7 when Brandon Hassell fired a 22-yard touchdown pass to Cory Rodgers.


2003 Fort Worth Bowl
In the second quarter, Brandon Hassell scored on a 21-yard touchdown run giving TCU a 21–7 lead. Ryan Dinwiddie threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Carpenter to pull Boise State to 21–14. Running back David Mikell ran 75-yards for a touchdown, to tie the game at 21 before halftime.


2003 Fort Worth Bowl
In the third quarter, Nick Browne reclaimed the lead after he drilled a 32-yard field goal. Boise State responded with two field goals of their own to take a 27–24 lead into the fourth quarter. TCU running back Lonta Hobbs scored on a 7-yard touchdown run to give TCU a 31–27 lead. Ryan Dinwiddie won the game for Boise State when he fired an 18-yard touchdown pass to Derek Schouman to make the final 34–31, Boise State.


2003 Fort Worth mayoral election
The 2003 Fort Worth mayoral election took place on May 3, 2003, to elect the Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas. The election was held concurrently with various other local elections, and was officially nonpartisan. The election saw the election of Mike Moncrief.


2003 Fort Worth mayoral election
If no candidate received a majority of the vote in the general election, a runoff would have been held.


2003 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
The 2003 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships was an international figure skating competition in the 2002–03 season. It was held at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium in Beijing, China on February 10–16. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The compulsory dance was the Quickstep.


2003 Four Nations Tournament (women's football)
The 2003 Four Nations Tournament was the third edition of this invitational women's football tournament held in China with four national teams participating in a round robin format. It was held from January 23 to 29, 2003, in the cities of Yiwu, Wuhan and Shanghai.


2003 France rugby union tour of Argentina and New Zealand
The 2003 France rugby union tour of Argentina and New Zealand was a series of matches played in June 2003 in Argentina and New Zealand by France national rugby union team.


2003 France rugby union tour of Argentina and New Zealand, First test with "Pumas"
Argentina: Ignacio Corleto, 14.Jose Nunez Piossek, 13.Manuel Contepomi, 12.Lisandro Arbizu (capt. ), 11.Diego Albanese, 10.Felipe Contepomi, 9.Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 8.Mauricio Reggiardo, 7.Mario Ledesma, 6.Martin Scelzo, 5.Ignacio Fernadez Lobbe, 4.Santiago Phelan, 3.Patricio Albacete, 2.Lucas Ostiglia, 1.Gonzalo Longo,  – replacements: 16.Federico Mendez Azpillaga, 17.Santiago Gonzalez Bonorino, 18.Pedro Sporleder, 22.Juan Martin Hernandez      –  No entry : 19.Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 20.Matias Albina, 21.Gonzalo QuesadaFrance: 15.Clément Poitrenaud, 14.Aurelien Rougerie, 13.Thomas Castaignede, 12.Damien Traille, 11.Christophe Dominici, 10.Yann Delaigue, 9.Fabien Galthie (capt. ), 8.Jean Bouilhou, 7.Christian Labit, 6.Patrick Tabacco, 5.Jerome Thion, 4.David Auradou, 3.Pieter de Villiers, 2.Jean-Baptiste Rue, 1.Olivier Milloud,  – replacements: 17.Sylvain Marconnet, 19.Imanol Harinordoquy, 19.Imanol Harinordoquy       –  No entry: 18.Lionel Nallet, 20.Frederic Michalak, 21.Yannick Jauzion, 22.Pepito Elhorga, 16.Yannick Bru


2003 France rugby union tour of Argentina and New Zealand, The second test with "Pumas "
Argentina: Juan Martin Hernandez, 14.Hernan Senillosa, 13.Jose Orengo, 12.Lisandro Arbizu (capt. ), 11.Diego Albanese, 10.Gonzalo Quesada, 9.Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 8.Roberto Grau, 7.Federico Mendez Azpillaga, 6.Martin Scelzo, 5.Ignacio Fernadez Lobbe, 4.Santiago Phelan, 3.Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 2.Rolando Martin, 1.Lucas Ostiglia,  – replacements: 21.Felipe Contepomi, 22.Bernardo Stortoni        –  No entry : 17.Mauricio Reggiardo, 18.Pedro Sporleder, 20.Matias Albina, 22.Pablo BouzaFrance:


2003 France rugby union tour of Argentina and New Zealand, The second test with "Pumas "
15.Pepito Elhorga, 14.Aurelien Rougerie, 13.Yannick Jauzion, 12.Damien Traille, 11.Vincent Clerc, 10.Yann Delaigue, 9.Fabien Galthie (capt. ), 8.Christian Labit, 7.Sebastien Chabal, 6.Imanol Harinordoquy, 5.Jerome Thion, 4.David Auradou, 3.Pieter de Villiers, 2.Yannick Bru, 1.Sylvain Marconnet,  – replacements: 16.Jean-Baptiste Rue, 20.Frederic Michalak        –  No entry: 17.Olivier Milloud, 18.Lionel Nallet, 19.Elvis Vermeulen, 21.Thomas Castaignede, 22.Clément Poitrenaud


2003 France rugby union tour of Argentina and New Zealand, The test with All Blacks
New Zealand: Mils Muliaina, 14.Doug Howlett, 13.Tana Umaga, 12.Dan Carter, 11.Joe Rokocoko, 10.Carlos Spencer, 9.Steve Devine, 8.Dave Hewett, 7.Anton Oliver, 6.Greg Somerville, 5.Chris Jack, 4.Reuben Thorne (capt. ), 3.Ali Williams, 2.Richie McCaw, 1.Jerry Collins,  – replacements: 16.Keven Mealamu, 17.Kees Meeuws, 18.Brad Thorn, 19.Marty Holah, 20.Byron Kelleher     –  No entry : 21.Aaron Mauger, 22.Caleb RalphFrance: 15.Clément Poitrenaud, 14.Aurelien Rougerie, 13.Yannick Jauzion, 12.Damien Traille, 11.Vincent Clerc, 10.Frederic Michalak, 9.Fabien Galthie (capt. ), 8.Elvis Vermeulen, 7.Patrick Tabacco, 6.Imanol Harinordoquy, 5.Jerome Thion, 4.Lionel Nallet, 3.Nicolas Mas, 2.Yannick Bru, 1.Sylvain Marconnet,  – replacements: 17.Pieter de Villiers, 18.David Auradou, 19.Christian Labit, 20.Sebastien Chabal, 21.Gerald Merceron     –  No entry: 16.Jean-Baptiste Rue, 22.Pepito Elhorga


2003 Frankfurt Galaxy season
The 2003 Frankfurt Galaxy season was the 11th season for the franchise in the NFL Europe League (NFLEL). The team was led by head coach Doug Graber in his third year, and played its home games at Waldstadion in Frankfurt, Germany. They finished the regular season in first place with a record of six wins and four losses. In World Bowl XI, Frankfurt defeated the Rhein Fire 35–16. The victory marked the franchise's third World Bowl championship.


2003 Franklin Templeton Classic
The 2003 Franklin Templeton Classic was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Scottsdale, Arizona in the United States which was part of the International Series of the 2003 ATP Tour. It was the 16th edition of the tournament and was held from March 3 through March 9, 2003. First-seeded Lleyton Hewitt won the singles title.


2003 Franklin Templeton Classic, Finals, Doubles
James Blake /  Mark Merklein defeated  Lleyton Hewitt /  Mark Philippoussis 6–4, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5)


2003 Franklin Templeton Classic – Doubles
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan were the defending champions but lost in the quarterfinals to Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley.


2003 Franklin Templeton Classic – Doubles
James Blake and Mark Merklein won in the final 6–4, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5) against Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis.


2003 Franklin Templeton Classic – Singles
Andre Agassi was the defending champion but lost in the first round to Thomas Enqvist.


2003 Franklin Templeton Classic – Singles
Lleyton Hewitt won in the final 6–4, 6–4 against Mark Philippoussis.


2003 French Figure Skating Championships
The 2003 French Figure Skating Championships (French: Championnat de France Elite) took place between December 13th and 15th, 2002 in Asnières-sur-Seine. Skaters competed at the senior level in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating. The event was used to help determine the French team to the 2003 World Championships and the 2003 European Championships.


2003 French Grand Prix
The 2003 French Grand Prix (formally the LXXXIX Mobil 1 Grand Prix de France) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 July 2003 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. It was the tenth race of the 2003 Formula One season. The 70-lap race was won by Ralf Schumacher driving for the Williams team after starting from pole position, which would turn out to be his last race win in Formula One. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in the other Williams car, with Michael Schumacher third driving for Ferrari. Ralf Schumacher's victory was his second consecutive win of the season having won the preceding European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.


2003 French Grand Prix
As a consequence of the race, Michael Schumacher extended his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to eight points over Kimi Räikkönen, with Ralf Schumacher a further three points behind. In the World Constructors' Championship, Williams reduced the gap to Ferrari from thirteen points to three points.


2003 French Grand Prix
This was the first French Grand Prix held at the upgraded version of Magny-Cours, having made Château d'Eau a sharper right hand corner, and a complete modification of the Lycée section, becoming a very sharp right hand turn after the back straight which then leads to a difficult final chicane next to the pit entrance. The pit lane was also significantly shortened as a result of the upgrades.


2003 French Grand Prix, Classification
Jos Verstappen ended up quickest after the first qualifying session due to a drying track. This was the only time a Minardi topped the timesheets at a race weekend. His teammate Justin Wilson's time after Q1 was deleted after scrutineering found his car was 2 kg underweight. It was 1:20.968 which at the time was good enough for 2nd place giving Minardi a 1–2.


2003 French Hill suicide bombings
The 2003 French hill suicide bombings was a twin suicide bombing of an Egged bus in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem, on 18 May 2003. Seven passengers were killed in the attack, and 20 injured. A few minutes after the first attack, a second suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the village of Dahiya el-Barid, near Jerusalem. Only the bomber was killed in what appeared to be a premature detonation.


2003 French Hill suicide bombings, The attacks
The first attack took place at 5:45 am, during the morning rush hour, when a Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as a Haredi detonated a nail-studded explosive belt strapped to his body on a No. 6 passenger bus near the French Hill section of northern Jerusalem. Seven civilians were killed in the attack, including four Russian immigrants and an Arab resident of Jerusalem. In addition, 20 were injured in the attack, four of them seriously.


2003 French Hill suicide bombings, The attacks
A few minutes after the first attack, another suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the village of Dahiya el-Barid, near Jerusalem. Only the bomber was killed in what appeared to be a premature detonation.


2003 French Hill suicide bombings, The perpetrator
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, relatives of 19-year-old Hamas activist Bassem Jamil Tarkrouri, who originated from Hebron, officially identified him as the perpetrator of the attack.


2003 French Hill suicide bombings, Official reactions
Israel: Israeli officials spoke about the bombings, stating they "will continue to fight terror everywhere, at any time and in any way possible".


2003 French Open
The 2003 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2003 and the 107th edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 26 through June 8, 2003.


2003 French Open
Both Albert Costa and Serena Williams were unsuccessful in their title defences, both being defeated in the semi-finals by eventual champions Juan Carlos Ferrero and Justine Henin-Hardenne respectively. Ferrero won his first Grand Slam title, defeating Martin Verkerk in the final, and Henin-Hardenne, who had previously won the event in 1997 as a junior, won after defeating Serena Williams, who had won the previous four Grand Slam events, in the semi-final and compatriot and rival Kim Clijsters in the final in straight sets. For Henin-Hardenne, it was the first of seven Grand Slam titles, and the first of four French Open titles.


2003 French Open, Seniors, Men's doubles
Mike Bryan /  Bob Bryan defeated  Paul Haarhuis /  Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 7–6, 6–3


2003 French Open, Seniors, Women's doubles
Kim Clijsters /  Ai Sugiyama defeated  Virginia Ruano Pascual /  Paola Suárez, 6–7(5), 6–2, 9–7


2003 French Open, Seniors, Mixed doubles
Lisa Raymond /  Mike Bryan defeated  Elena Likhovtseva /  Mahesh Bhupathi, 6–3, 6–4


2003 French Open, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
György Balázs /  Dudi Sela defeated  Kamil Čapkovič /  Lado Chikhladze, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2


2003 French Open, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
Marta Fraga Pérez /  Adriana González Peñas defeated  Kateřina Böhmová /  Michaëlla Krajicek, 6–0, 6–3


2003 French Open – Boys' Singles
In the 2003 French Open tennis tournament, the boys' singles competition was won by Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.


2003 French Open – Girls' Singles
Angelique Widjaja was the defending champion, but she did not compete in the juniors this year.


2003 French Open – Girls' Singles
Anna-Lena Grönefeld won the tournament, defeating Vera Dushevina in the final, 6–4, 6–4.


2003 French Open – Men's Doubles
Paul Haarhuis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov were defending champions, but they lost in the final to third seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, who won the first Grand Slam title of their careers.


2003 French Open – Men's Singles
Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated Martin Verkerk in the final 6–1, 6–3, 6–2 to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 2003 French Open. Albert Costa was the defending champion, but was defeated in the semifinals by Ferrero.


2003 French Open – Men's Singles
As of 2020, this is the most recent Grand Slam event Roger Federer lost in the first round.


2003 French Open – Men's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for the Men's Singles at the 2003 French Open.


2003 French Open – Mixed Doubles
Cara Black and Wayne Black were the defending champions, but lost in semifinals to Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan.


2003 French Open – Mixed Doubles
Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan won the title, defeating Elena Likhovtseva and Mahesh Bhupathi 6–3, 6–4 in the final. It was the 4th mixed doubles Grand Slam title for Raymond and the 2nd mixed doubles Grand Slam title for Bryan, in their respective careers.


2003 French Open – Women's Doubles
Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez were the two-time defending champions, but were defeated in the final by Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 7–9.


2003 French Open – Women's Singles
Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated her compatriot Kim Clijsters in the final, 6–0, 6–4, to win the Women's Singles tennis title at the 2003 French Open. This was Henin-Hardenne's first Grand Slam singles title, making her the first Belgian tennis player, male or female, to win a major tournament. Serena Williams was the defending champion, but she was defeated by Henin-Hardenne in the semifinals, ending her winning streak of thirty-three major matches.


2003 French Open – Women's Singles
This was the final Grand Slam appearance of former world No. 1 and 9-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles, as she was upset by Nadia Petrova in the first round. This was Seles' only first round loss in her Grand Slam career. It was also the first French Open appearance for future world No. 1 and five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova, who was defeated by Magüi Serna in the first round.


2003 French Open – Women's Singles
The final between Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters made Belgium the third country (the other ones are Australia and the United States) to have had two countrywomen play in a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.


2003 French Open – Women's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for the Women's Singles at the 2003 French Open.


2003 French motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2003 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 2003 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 23–25 May 2003 at the Bugatti Circuit located in Le Mans, France.


2003 French motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP classification
The race was stopped after 15 laps due to rain. It was later restarted for 13 laps with the grid order determined by the running order after the suspension. The second part of the race determined the final result.


2003 French motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (motoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round four has concluded.


2003 Fresno State Bulldogs football team
The 2003 Fresno State football team represented California State University, Fresno in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season, and competed as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Led by head coach Pat Hill, the Bulldogs played their home games at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California.


2003 Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election
The Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election of 2003 took place on 8 June 2003.


2003 Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election
Riccardo Illy, a centre-left independent, who had been Mayor of Trieste, defeated Alessandra Guerra, leading member of Lega Nord Friuli-Venezia Giulia.


2003 Fusagasugá City Council election
The 2003 Fusagasugá City Council election was held on Sunday, 26 October 2003, to elect the first City Council since the 2002 reform (Legislative Act 2002). At stake were all 17 seats in the City Council.


2003 Fylde Borough Council election
The 2003 Fylde Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2003 to elect members of Fylde Borough Council in Lancashire, England. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 1999 increasing the number of seats by two. The Conservative party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.


2003 Fórmula Truck season
The 2003 Fórmula Truck season was the 8th Fórmula Truck season. It began on March 16 at Goiânia and ended on December 7 at Curitiba.


2003 G.I. Joe's 200
The 2003 G.I. Joe's 200 was the eighth round of the 2003 CART World Series season, held on June 22, 2003 at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon.


2003 G.I. Joe's 200, Qualifying results
*Ryan Hunter-Reay's time in the first qualification session was disallowed after the car was found to be underweight during tech inspection. * *Tiago Montiero did not set a time in the second qualification session after his gearbox failed on his first lap.


2003 GFS Marketplace 400
The 2003 GFS Marketplace 400 was the 23rd stock car race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was held on August 17, 2003 at Michigan International Speedway near Brooklyn, Michigan before a crowd of 150,000. The 200-lap race was won by Ryan Newman of the Penske Racing South team after he started from second position. Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing finished second and Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart came in third.