2003–04 in English football, League tables, FA Premier League
Newly promoted Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers both went down after just one season (Wolves not gaining one away win all season), while Leeds United's Premiership status was crushed under a multi-million pound debt which had been mounting relentlessly for the best part of three years, as their relegation ultimately became a matter of when rather than if, ending their top-flight membership after 14 successive seasons among the elite.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League First Division
The top three led the division for most of the season, but Sunderland could not shake off their poor start and lost out to Norwich, who returned to the Premiership after nearly a decade, and West Brom, who bounced back to the Premiership after relegation the previous season. Crystal Palace achieved one of the most unlikely promotions of recent times, spending the entire first half of the season in the relegation zone under manager Steve Kember before surging into the play-off places under new manager Iain Dowie.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League First Division
West Ham continued to sell most of their top players following relegation the previous season, but overcame the sudden sacking of Glenn Roeder only three games into the season, with his replacement Alan Pardew guided them to 4th place, with the loss to Crystal Palace in the playoff final the only disappointment. Wigan's first season in the First Division saw them finish two points of the play-off places in seventh, failing to win any of their last 4 games, although they did finish above last season's losing playoff finalists Sheffield United on goal difference.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League First Division
Wimbledon's move to Milton Keynes took its toll on the club, and they finished bottom of the table in an abysmal final season for the club before it was renamed as MK Dons. Bradford fared little better, despite the presence of former England captain Bryan Robson in the manager's chair. Walsall made a respectable start to the season before slumping somewhat later on, and finally crashing into the relegation zone; just a single point from any of their last three games would have ensured survival.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League First Division
Millwall qualified for the UEFA Cup for finishing as runners-up in the FA Cup, as winners Manchester United already qualified for the Champions League.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League Second Division
Plymouth Argyle finished top of the division, though they lost manager Paul Sturrock to Southampton. Queens Park Rangers grabbed the second spot from under the noses of Bristol City, who proceeded to lose the play-off final to Brighton & Hove Albion, another side who bounced back from relegation the previous season.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League Second Division
Tony Adams, previously suggested by many as a possible future manager of Arsenal and England, failed to keep Wycombe Wanderers up, ending their ten-year spell in the division. Notts County nearly went bankrupt during the course of the season and the effect on the club was evident, as they slipped into Division Three (or League Two, as it would be called the next season). Rushden & Diamonds' years of success came to a grinding halt as they suffered their first-ever relegation and crashed out of the division after being promoted the previous year. Grimsby Town filled the final relegation spot, resulting in their second consecutive relegation; they had looked safe in the final weeks, but ultimately went down after a poor sequence of results combined with revivals by Chesterfield and Stockport County.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League Second Division
Leading goalscorer: Leon Knight (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Stephen McPhee (Port Vale) – 25


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League Third Division
Doncaster Rovers earned a second successive promotion, showing that the club was firmly back on track after the years of struggle and scandal that the club had endured in the late 1990s. Hull City were another team who had suffered much strife in the previous decade, but this time their extensive investment in players finally paid off, and they were promoted as runners-up. Torquay United earned the third automatic promotion spot from Huddersfield on the last day of the season. Huddersfield Town would make up for this by beating Mansfield in the play-off final, earning an immediate return after the previous year's relegation.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League Third Division
Despite winning 4 out of their last 5 games, Yeovil missed out on the playoffs on goal difference in their first ever season in the Football League, while Swansea, nearly relegated the previous season, finished 10th, but were still closer to the drop zone than the playoffs.


2003–04 in English football, League tables, Football League Third Division
York City were in play-off contention for a large part of the campaign, but a disastrous end to the season saw them lose 16 of their last 20 games, costing them their 80-year-old League status. Conversely, Carlisle United started the season horrendously, but a late run saw them finish 23rd. A few years ago this would have seen them complete an amazing escape from relegation, but with the introduction of two relegation places from the League it was no longer sufficient, and they dropped into the Conference, becoming the first former top-flight team to suffer this indignity.


2003–04 in English football, Transfer deals, Summer transfer window
The summer transfer window ran from the end of the previous season until 31 August 2003.


2003–04 in English football, Transfer deals, January transfer window
The mid-season transfer window runs from 1 to 31 January 2004.


2003–04 in Hong Kong football
The 2003–04 season in Hong Kong football, starting July 2003 and ending June 2004.


2003–04 in Hong Kong football, Exhibition matches in Hong Kong, Real Madrid Asia Tour 2003
Although the team of Hong Kong is officially named Hong Kong, it loaned 6 players from Dalian Shide, including Zhang Enhua, Hao Haidong, Li Ming, Wang Pang, An Qi and Li Yao.


2003–04 in Portuguese football
The 2003–04 football season in Portuguese football was dominated by FC Porto, which was later involved in the corruption scandal Apito Dourado in relation to this season. Although Porto failed to win the Portuguese Double because of Benfica in the Taça de Portugal final, the club won the UEFA Champions League, becoming the first Portuguese team to do so in the current form of the competition.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, Domestic competitions, SuperLiga
The 2003-2004 season was dominated by FC Porto. After winning the SuperLiga, the Cup of Portugal and the UEFA Cup in 2003, José Mourinho's side dominated the championship from start to finish.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, Domestic competitions, SuperLiga
Sporting Clube de Portugal had a disappointing season, finishing third. At the end of the season coach Fernando Santos resigned.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, Domestic competitions, SuperLiga
CD Nacional was the great surprise finishing fourth. Due to Porto's success in European competition the previous year, the third (Sporting Clube de Portugal), fourth (CD Nacional) and fifth placed (SC Braga) teams qualified for the UEFA Cup.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, Domestic competitions, Cup of Portugal
The 2003-2004 edition of the Cup of Portugal was won by Benfica that defeated FC Porto 2-1 in the final.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, Domestic competitions, Cup of Portugal
Because both teams in the final had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup spot usually allocated to the winner of the Cup went to CS Marítimo, who finished sixth in the SuperLiga.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, Domestic competitions, SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira
The 2003-2004 SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira was won by FC Porto who defeated UD Leiria in the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimarães, in August 2003.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, International competitions, UEFA Champions League
Two Portuguese teams participated in the 2003-2004 edition of UEFA Champions League: FC Porto and Benfica. FC Porto won their second European trophy in two years, beating Partizan Belgrade, Marseille, Manchester United, Lyon, Deportivo La Coruña and AS Monaco on their way. The only team Porto faced and failed to beat was Real Madrid in the group stage.


2003–04 in Portuguese football, International competitions, UEFA Cup
The Portuguese participants in this edition of the UEFA Cup were: Benfica, Sporting and União de Leiria. Benfica entered the first round of the UEFA Cup. They were the most successful Portuguese team in the competition, reaching the fourth round, where they lost to an Italian team, Inter Milan. Prior to this, they beat La Louvière, Molde and Rosenborg. Sporting beat Malmö in the first round, but were surprised in the following round by Turkish team Gençlerbirligi, who beat Sporting in their own stadium by 3-0. União de Leiria entered in the final preliminary round, where they beat Coleraine, but they were knocked out in the first round by Molde (who were subsequently beaten by Benfica in the following round).


2003–04 in Scottish football
The 2003–04 season was the 107th season of competitive football in Scotland.


2003–04 in Scottish football, League Competitions, Scottish Premier League
The 2003–04 Scottish Premier League season was won by Celtic with 98 points, 17 points ahead of closest challengers Rangers. Both Rangers and Celtic therefore gained the two UEFA Champions League places and Hearts got the UEFA Europa League place having finished third. Partick Thistle were relegated to the Scottish First Division, this however was decided by a tribunal as at the time Inverness's stadium did not meet the criteria for the SPL, as with Falkirk the previous season, however unlike Falkirk the SPL decided that Inverness were allowed to share a ground with Aberdeen.


2003–04 in Venezuelan football
The following article presents a summary of the 2003-2004 football season in Venezuela.


2003–04 in Welsh football
This article lists major events during the 2003–04 season in Welsh football.


2003–04 in Welsh football, National team
Wales almost qualified for Euro 2004 in Portugal. They finished 2nd in a group that contained Italy, Serbia-Montenegro and Finland and made the play-offs. The Euro 2004 Qualifying play-offs pitted Wales with Russia. A 0–0 draw in a cold November evening in Moscow was followed by a 1–0 defeat in Cardiff.


2003–04 in Welsh football, Welsh Cup
Rhyl beat Total Network Solutions 1–0 after extra time in the final of the Welsh Cup.


2003–04 in Welsh football, Welsh League Cup
Rhyl beat Carmarthen Town 4–0 in the final of the Welsh League cup.


2003–04 in Welsh football, Welsh Premier League
2003–04 saw Rhyl win the Welsh Premier League. TNS were about to win but a last day slip saw Rhyl claim the title.


2003–04 in Welsh football, Welsh Premier League
Barry Town entered administration in the summer of 2003 having attained just 3 wins during a disastrous season and were relegated to the Welsh Football League Division One. All of their best players from the 2002–03 title winning season left and the amateur players who replaced them finished bottom of the league. The biggest win of the season in Wales was Caernarfon's 8–0 defeat of Barry Town on 30 August 2003.


2003–04 snooker season
The 2003–04 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 13 September 2003 and 20 May 2004. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.


2003–04 snooker season
LG Corporation signed a sponsorship agreement with World Snooker, and the seven world ranking events before the World Championship were branded as the "LG Electronics Tour". These tournaments carried conventional ranking points but also had a separate points system, with a £50,000 prize for the player who accumulated the most points during the LG Electronics Tour. Ronnie O'Sullivan was the eventual winner of the cash prize, but both the sponsorship and format would only last for one season.


2003–04 snooker season, Official rankings
The top 16 of the world rankings, these players automatically played in the final rounds of the world ranking events and were invited for the Masters.


2003–04 snooker season, Points distribution
2003/2004 Points distribution for world ranking events, all new players received double points:


2003–2004 Armenian protests
A series of mass protests were held in Armenia following the 2003 presidential election, led by the former presidential candidate Stepan Demirchyan.


2003–2004 Armenian protests, Protests, April 12, 2004
2003 Armenian Presidential election opposition candidate Stepan Demirchyan, who was the official runner-up of that election, was defeated by Robert Kocharyan in the second round. Demirchya started a  protest demanding authority retirement in the Freedom Square, he later started a rally to Presidential Palace, but police blocked the road from the front of National Assembly, after this protesters announced a sit-in, later police attacked protesters to disperse the sit-in.


2003–2004 Baltimore mayoral election
The 2003–2004 Baltimore mayoral election saw the reelection of incumbent mayor Martin O'Malley.


2003–2004 Baltimore mayoral election
In 1999, Baltimore citizens voted to move mayoral elections to take place in presidential election years, effective with the 2004 elections. However,  primary dates in Maryland can only be set by the General Assembly, which refused to move the primary to 2004. As a result, while the primary took place on September 9, 2003; the general election took place 14 months later, on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Martin O'Malley was reelected, but only to a three-year term rather than the usual four-year term.


2003–2004 Baltimore mayoral election
It would be 2012 before the General Assembly finally agreed to move municipal elections to coincide with presidential elections, effective in 2016.


2003–2004 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series
The 2003–2004 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series was a series of stages where events in men's and women's artistic gymnastics were contested. The series was a two-year long competition culminating at a final event, the World Cup Final in 2004. A number of qualifier stages were held. The top 3 gymnast in each apparatus at the qualifier events would receive medals and prize money. Gymnasts who finished in the top 8 would also receive points that would be added up to a ranking which would qualify individual gymnasts for the biennial World Cup Final.


2003–2004 FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series
The 2003–2004 FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series was a series of stages where events in rhythmic gymnastics were contested. The series consisted of a two-year long competition, culminating at a final event — the World Cup Final in 2004. A number of qualifier stages were held. The top 3 gymnasts and groups in each apparatus at the qualifier events would receive medals and prize money. Gymnasts and groups that finished in the top 8 also received points which were added up to a ranking that qualified for the biennial World Cup Final.


2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh
The 2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists was launched on May 19, 2003, and lasted nearly one year. It followed a two-week ultimatum to GAM to accept special autonomy under Indonesian rule. It was one of the Indonesian military's largest campaigns since the 1975 invasion of East Timor. It severely disabled the rebel movement, and along with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake brought the 30-year conflict in Aceh to an end.


2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh, Background
On 28 April 2003, the Indonesian government issued an ultimatum to end the fighting and accept special autonomy for Aceh within two weeks. Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders based in Sweden refused the ultimatum, but the United States, Japan, and the European Union urged both sides to avoid armed conflict and resume peace talks in Tokyo. On May 16, 2003, the government stated that the offer of autonomy was the final concession it would make to GAM, and the rejection of the ultimatum would lead to military operations against the movement. GAM leaders and negotiators responded to this demand, and stated that its members in Aceh had been arrested while trying to leave for Tokyo.


2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh, Military operations
After midnight on May 18, 2003, President Megawati Sukarnoputri gave the 12th Indonesian Military Chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, permission to commence military operations against the separatists. General Sutarto also imposed martial law in Aceh for a period of six months and the Indonesian government subsequently deployed 1,500 soldiers and 12,000 police to the province. This included a parachute landing by 458 paratroopers near Aceh airport.


2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh, Military operations
In June 2003, the government announced their intention to print a new ID card to distinguish all the people in Aceh from the rebels. NGOs and aid agencies were ordered to stop operations and leave the area and the government decreed that all assistance had to be coordinated through the government in Jakarta and the Indonesian Red Cross.


2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh, Military operations
In May 2004, martial law in Aceh came to an end and the status of the conflict was downgraded to a civil emergency. Indonesian Coordinating Minister ad interim Hari Sabarno announced the change after a cabinet meeting on May 13, 2004. The government announced that they had made significant progress, and that during the operation thousands of GAM members had been killed, captured and surrendered.


2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh, Military operations
Although martial law had been suspended, the military operations being conducted by the military continued. An estimated 2,000 people were killed during the fighting. According to Indonesian military sources, the majority of victims were soldiers, but international human rights groups and locals, including the government's human rights commission, claim that most of the victims were civilians. Evidence suggests that the military often does not distinguish between combatants, and non-combatants. Investigations also found GAM were responsible for the atrocities that occurred in Aceh.


2003–2004 Indonesian offensive in Aceh, Military operations
Acehnese refugees in Malaysia have reported widespread abuses in Aceh, which was closed to observers during the military operation. The trial of members of the Indonesian military is considered difficult, and trials that have occurred have only involved low-ranking soldiers.


2003–2004 Massachusetts legislature
The 183rd Massachusetts General Court, consisting of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, met in 2003 and 2004 during the governorship of Mitt Romney. Robert Travaglini served as president of the Senate. Thomas Finneran and then Salvatore DiMasi each served as speaker of the House.


2003–2004 Massachusetts legislature
Notable legislation included "one of the toughest smoking bans in the US, covering workplaces, restaurants, and bars across the state (many of which were already smoke-free as a result of local legislation)."


2003–2004 Massachusetts legislature, Images
Map of the 40 districts of the Massachusetts state senate apportioned in 2001


2003–2004 Massachusetts legislature, Images
Map of the 160 districts of the Massachusetts House of Representatives apportioned in 2001


2003–2005 Africa locust infestation
In 2004, West and North Africa experienced their largest infestation of desert locusts in more than 15 years. A number of countries in the fertile northern regions of Africa were affected.


2003–2005 Africa locust infestation, Development
The increase in Desert Locust breeding activity was noted in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Desert Locust Bulletins in the autumn of 2003 when four unrelated outbreaks occurred simultaneously in Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Sudan. Shortly thereafter, unusually heavy rain fell for two days over a large area that extended from Dakar, Senegal to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Some areas in Western Sahara received more than 100 mm of rain whereas they normally receive about 1 mm of rain in a year.


2003–2005 Africa locust infestation, Development
Consequently, ecological conditions remained favourable for at least six months and allowed several successive generations of Desert Locust breeding. In such circumstances, locusts increased very rapidly. By early 2004, the threat materialized as swarms of locusts started to form and move north into important agricultural areas in Morocco and Algeria, inflicting damage to crops. The collective fear, expressed by the FAO and news organizations covering the situation, was the potential destruction of a sizable portion of Africa's food supply if control operations could not be mounted quickly and successfully.


2003–2005 Africa locust infestation, Development
During the summer of 2004, large numbers of swarms from Northwest Africa invaded the Sahel in West Africa and quickly moved into crops. By then, the threat of a locust plague emerged, creating one of the most dangerous locust situations since 1989. As the year progressed, the swarms migrated over the continent causing devastation, and in November 2004 appeared in northern Egypt, Jordan and Israel for the first time in 50 years.


2003–2005 Africa locust infestation, Development
One swarm in Morocco between Tarfaya and Tan-Tan was 230 km long, at least 150 m wide, and contained an estimated 69 billion locusts, which were being used as a food resource by 33 species of birds (Ullman 2006). Swarms also invaded Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, southern Portugal, and Crete. Lack of rain and cold temperatures in the winter breeding area of Northwest Africa slowed down the development of the locusts and allowed the locust control agencies to stop the cycle in early 2005.


2003–2005 Africa locust infestation, Development
National teams in some 20 countries treated nearly 130,000 square kilometres by air and ground. The costs of fighting this upsurge have been estimated by the FAO to have exceeded US$400 million and harvest losses were valued at up to US$2.5 billion which had disastrous effects on the food security situation in West Africa. However a combination of strict pest control measures and a good harvest allowed Africa to avoid a continent-wide food disaster. According to the FAO, while the overall food output for the affected Sahel region has declined, it is still within the range of five-year averages. Nevertheless, some countries lost significant portions of their crops to the locusts, particularly Mauritania, which lost as much as half of its harvest.


2003–2005 Africa locust infestation, Development
The outbreak inspired several works of literature. In March 2007, Andersen Press published Sophie and the Locust Curse, a novel by British children's author Stephen Davies about the devastating impact of the 2004 locust swarm on communities in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals
The 2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals were revealed by a large-scale 2009–2013 investigation of football betting, bribery and match-fixing (Chinese: 中国足坛反赌风暴; lit. ' Chinese football anti-betting storm'). The scandals were first made public in October 2009. Instead of being led by General Administration of Sport of China or Chinese Football Association like previous investigations, this investigation was led by the Ministry of Public Security. Xie Yalong, Nan Yong and Yang Yimin, who are all former vice presidents of Chinese Football Association, along with Zhang Jianqiang and some other CFA officials were arrested and removed from their posts.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals
Shanghai Shenhua F.C. was stripped of their 2003 Chinese Jia-A League title. Lu Jun, the only Chinese referee in the history of FIFA World Cup, and China national football team players Shen Si, Jiang Jin, Qi Hong, Li Ming, were arrested and sentenced to 5.5 years or 6 years in jail.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Background
In the aftermath of the 2001 Chinese football match-fixing scandal, referee Gong Jianping was jailed and died in the prison. Other team managers, referees and officials were not subject to any criminal prosecution. Shandong Luneng F.C., Shanghai Shenhua F.C. and Zhejiang Greentown F.C. were fined 800,000 RMB, Jiangsu Sainty F.C. and Dalian Shide F.C. were fined 500,000 RMB, Qingdao Etsong Hainiu was fined 300,000 RMB. Their club managers were "seriously warned".


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Background
In 2006, Liaoshen Evening News report match-fixing event to the Chinese Football Association. Xie Yalong, Nan Yong and Yang Yimin replied "the CFA will carefully study the evidence and quickly request judicial intervention. Please report to us again next time."


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, Shanghai Shenhua vs Shanghai International in 2003
It was revealed in 2011 that the referee Lu Jun and CFA official Zhang Jianqiang received bribes totaling 700,000 yuan from Shanghai Shenhua before this Shanghai derby match between the top two teams. In 2013, Shanghai Shenhua was stripped of its 2003 title. Lu Jun, once nicknamed "Golden Whistle" (金哨), was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for fixing the results of the Shanghai derby and six other league matches.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, Shanghai International vs Tianjin TEDA in 2003
The CFA stipulated that the result of "the 2002 Jia-A League rank * 0.5 + the 2003 Jia-A League rank" will be used to determine the teams participating the newly created Chinese Super League in 2004. In the final round of the 2003 Jia-A League, Chongqing Lifan would have to lose to Qingdao Etsong Hainiu and hope Shanghai International, a title hopeful, could beat (or tie with) Tianjin TEDA. In the match, Chongqing's supporters cheered for the guest team, Qingdao, and Chongqing Lifan successfully lost to Qingdao Etsong Hainiu 1–3.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, Shanghai International vs Tianjin TEDA in 2003
However, Shanghai International lost to Tianjin TEDA in a 1–2 blowout. Tianjin TEDA gained the last seat for the inaugural Chinese Super League and Chongqing Lifan was relegated (although Chongqing was eventually able to qualify for the 2004 CSL by merging with Yunnan Hongta). Shanghai International finished one point behind the champions Shanghai Shenhua (in 2013, Shenhua were stripped of the title for bribing Lu Jun in the 9 November derby match).


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, Shanghai International vs Tianjin TEDA in 2003
In 2012, it was found that in 2003, the then vice president of the Chinese Football Association, Nan Yong, did not want Chongqing Lifan to "lose and qualify" and make the CFA rules a laughing stock. With Nan Yong's help, Tianjin TEDA's club manager, Zhang Yifeng, was able to contact Shanghai International and Chinese national football team player Shen Si, who then contacted club and national teammates Jiang Jin, Qi Hong and Li Ming. After Shanghai International lost to Tianjin TEDA, the four players received 8 million yuan in total. Shen Si was sentenced to six years in prison, the other three were sentenced to five years and six months in prison.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, Guangzhou GPC vs Shanxi Luhu in 2006
Guangzhou GPC's team leader Yang Xu bribed Wang Pu, the general manager of Shanxi Luhu.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, Guangzhou GPC vs Zhejiang Greentown in 2006
With the help of the former CFA League Department official Fan Guangming, and retired Shandong Luneng player Leng Bo and Xing Rui, Guangzhou GPC bribed the players of Zhejiang Greentown, Shen Liuxi and Hu Minghua, with a total amount of 1.5 million yuan.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, Qingdao Hailifeng vs Chengdu Sheffield United in 2007
Chengdu Sheffield United general manager Xu Hongtao and deputy general manager You Ke offered Qingdao Hailifeng with 300,000 yuan and free winter training for a month at Chengdu's base, in exchange with Chengdu's victory of the match.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Notable affected matches, "Chip Shot Gate" of Qingdao Hailifeng in 2009
In a 2009 match against the bottom-of-the-league Sichuan F.C., Qingdao Hailifeng were leading 3–0 with 20 minutes left. But having bet before the match that the total number of goals would be at least four, Qingdao Hailifeng's chairman, Du Yunqi, asked the team for another goal into either net. Due to Sichuan's defensive effort, Qingdao was unable to score another goal. In the last minutes, Qingdao players tried three chip shots into their own goal. However, due to the goalkeeper Mou Pengfei's two saves on his teammates' shots and with the third attempt going wide, the match ended 3–0. The match was known as "Chip Shot Gate (吊射门)" in China. In 2010, CFA revoked Qingdao Helifeng's league registration. In 2012, Du Yunqi was sentenced to seven years in prison.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Punishment, Clubs
On February 21, 2010, the CFA Disciplinary Committee made preliminary punishment decisions for clubs identified by the Ministry of Public Security Gambling Task Force as being involved in match-fixing cases.


2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals, Punishment, Clubs
On February 18, 2013, the CFA Disciplinary Committee again announced its decision to punish the clubs involved in the match-fixing cases:


2004
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2004th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 4th  year of the 3rd millennium, the 4th  year of the 21st century, and the  5th   year of the 2000s decade.


2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).


2004 1. deild, Overview
It was contested by 10 teams, and Havnar Bóltfelag won the championship.


2004 1. deild, Results
The schedule consisted of a total of 18 games. Each team played two games against every opponent in no particular order. One of the games was at home and one was away.


2004 1. deild karla
The 2004 season of 1. deild karla was the 50th season of second-tier football in Iceland.


2004 10,000 Lakes Festival
The 2004 10,000 Lakes Festival was held July 1 through July 4.


2004 1000 Guineas
The 2004 1000 Guineas Stakes was a horse race held at Newmarket Racecourse on Sunday 2 May 2004. It was the 191st running of the 1000 Guineas.


2004 1000 Guineas
The winner was Guy Innes-Ker, 10th Duke of Roxburghe's Attraction, a bay filly trained by Mark Johnston at Middleham, North Yorkshire and ridden by Kevin Darley. Attraction's victory was the first in the race for her owner, trainer and jockey.


2004 1000 Guineas, The contenders
The race attracted a field of sixteen runners, fifteen trained in the United Kingdom and one in Ireland: there were no challengers from continental Europe. The favourite was the Cheveley Park Stud's Red Bloom, the winner of the Group One Fillies' Mile at Ascot. The second choice in the betting was Attraction, who had been named European Champion Two-year old Filly in 2003 when she had won the Queen Mary Stakes and the Cherry Hinton Stakes but who had been off the racecourse for almost ten months.


2004 1000 Guineas, The contenders
The Irish challenger was the Aidan O'Brien-trained Necklace, the winner of the Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Debutante Stakes. The Godolphin Racing stable was represented by Carry On Katie, the winner of the Cheveley Park Stakes and the Lowther Stakes as well as the Rockfel Stakes winner Cairns and the Japanese-bred Sundrop. The other contenders included Hathrah (Masaka Stakes), Silca's Gift (Nell Gwyn Stakes) and Majestic Desert (Fred Darling Stakes). Red Bloom headed the betting at odds of 4/1 ahead of Attraction (11/2) and Hathrah (6/1) with Secret Charm and Carry On Katie on 7/1 and Necklace on 8/1.


2004 1000 Guineas, The race
Shortly after the start, most of the fillies moved to the far side of the wide Newmarket straight (the right side of the course from the jockey's point of view), with only Sundrop and the 33/1 outsider Spotlight racing down the centre. Attraction took the lead on the far side and set the pace with Hathrah, Carry On Katie, Majestic Desert, Cairns and Necklace close behind. A furlong from the finish, Attraction began to come under pressure as Red Bloom moved forward and Secret Charm, who had struggled to obtained a clear run also began to make progress. Attraction stayed on "gamely" in the closing stages to win by half a length from Sundrop with Hathrah a further half a length away in third place. Red Bloom took third ahead of Secret Charm and Carry On Katie.


2004 1000 Guineas, The race
After the race Attraction's trainer Mark Johnston said: "She doesn't have the most perfect physical confirmation in the world, but believe me, there are a lot worse horses than her. She is a champion two-year-old, the best in Europe, and now she is a Classic winner. She didn't just win that, she galloped and stayed all the way to the line. I am thrilled to see it happen. Everybody put doubts in my mind about her stamina, but really I never doubted her".


2004 1000 km of Monza
The 2004 1000 km of Monza was the first round of the 2004 Le Mans Series season, held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy. It was run on May 9, 2004.


2004 1000 km of Monza
Although proceeded by the 2003 1000km of Le Mans exhibition event, the 1000 km of Monza was the first official race of the new Le Mans Endurance Series.


2004 1000 km of Monza, Official results
Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).


2004 1000 km of Nürburgring
The 2004 1000 km of Nürburgring was the second round of the 2004 Le Mans Series season, held at the Nürburgring, Germany. It was run on July 4, 2004.


2004 1000 km of Nürburgring, Official results
Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).


2004 1000 km of Nürburgring, Official results
† – #36 Gerard Welter was disqualified in post-race inspection for having an illegal airbox fitted to the car.


2004 1000 km of Silverstone
The 2004 1000 km of Silverstone was the third round of the 2004 Le Mans Series season, held at the Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom. It was run on August 13, 2004.


2004 1000 km of Silverstone, Official results
Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).


2004 1000 km of Silverstone, Official results
† - #74 RSR Racing was not allowed to qualify due to failing technical scrutineering.


2004 1000 km of Spa
The 2004 1000 km of Spa was the fourth and final round of the 2004 Le Mans Series season, held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. It was run on September 12, 2004.


2004 1000 km of Spa, Official results
Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).


2004 12 Hours of Sebring
The 2004 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring was the 52nd running of this auto racing event, and took place on March 20, 2004. This was also the opening race of the 2004 American Le Mans Series season.


2004 12 Hours of Sebring, Official results
Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).


2004 2. deild karla
The 2004 season of 2. deild karla was the 39th season of third-tier football in Iceland.


2004 2. divisjon
The 2004 2. divisjon season was the third highest football (soccer) league for men in Norway.


2004 2. divisjon
26 games were played in 4 groups, with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. Tønsberg, Follo, Løv-Ham and Alta were promoted to the First Division. Number twelve, thirteen and fourteen were relegated to the 3. divisjon. The winning teams from each of the 24 groups in the 3. divisjon each faced a winning team from another group in a playoff match, resulting in 12 playoff winners which were promoted to the 2. divisjon.


2004 24 Hours of Daytona
The 2004 Rolex 24 at Daytona was a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series 24-hour endurance sports car race held on January 31–February 1, 2004 at the Daytona International Speedway road course. The race served as the first round of the 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series. The race was won by the No. 54 Doran JE4-Pontiac entered by Bell Motorsports and driven by Terry Borcheller, Forest Barber, Andy Pilgrim, and Christian Fittipaldi, marking the first time that the Daytona Prototype class won the race overall.


2004 24 Hours of Daytona
The GT class was won by the No. 44 Porsche 996 GT3-RS entered by Orbit Racing and driven by Mike Fitzgerald, Robin Liddell, Johnny Mowlem, Joe Policastro, and Joe Policastro Jr. The SGS class was won by the No. 93 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup entered by Doncaster Racing and driven by Jean-François Dumoulin, Marc Lieb, Robert Julien, and Greg Pootmans.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 72nd 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 72e 24 Heures du Mans) was an 24 hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars held from 12 to 13 June at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le Mans, France. It was the 72nd edition of the 24 Hour race, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. Unlike other events, it was not a part of any endurance motor racing championship. A test day was held eight weeks prior to the race on 25 April. Approximately 200,000 people attended the race.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans
The Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx R8 of Jamie Davies, Johnny Herbert and Guy Smith started from pole position after Herbert set the overall fastest lap time in the fourth qualifying session. The car led for much of the first 18 hours until a rear suspension problem created handling difficulties and was corrected in the garage.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans
It gave the lead to the Audi Sport Japan Team Goh car of Seiji Ara, Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen and although it caught fire during a pit stop, Ara held off the faster Herbert for the remainder of the race to win by 41.354 seconds. It was Ara's first Le Mans win, Capello's second and Kristensen's sixth. Kristensen equalled Jacky Ickx's all-time record of six overall victories and was the first driver to win the 24-hour race five times in a row. This was the fourth overall victory for Audi since its first in the 2000 edition. The Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx car finished in second and the Champion Racing trio of JJ Lehto, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner recovered from a crash in the second hour to complete the overall podium finishers in third place.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans
The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category was won by the Intersport Racing Lola B2K/40 car of William Bennie, Clint Field and Rick Sutherland, eight laps ahead of the sole other finisher in the class, the Rachel Welter WR LM2001 vehicle of Yojiro Terada, Patrice Roussel and Olivier Porta. A Chevrolet Corvette C5-R driven by Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen won the Le Mans Grand Touring Sport (LMGTS) class and the sister car of Ron Fellows, Max Papis and Johnny O'Connell was eleven laps behind in second place.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans
Prodrive's Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello of Colin McRae, Rickard Rydell and Darren Turner completed the category podium in third position. Porsches took the first six places in the Le Mans Grand Touring (LMGT) category with the White Lighting Racing Porsche 911 GT3-RS of Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Sascha Maassen taking the class win for the second consecutive year.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Background and regulation changes
The 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 72nd edition of the race and took place on the 8.482 mi (13.650 km) Circuit de la Sarthe road racing track close to Le Mans, France from 12 to 13 June. The automotive journalist Charles Faroux proposed the race to Georges Durand, the president of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), and the industrialist Emile Coquile to test vehicle reliability and fuel-efficiency, which was first held in 1923. It is considered one of the world's most prestigious motor races and is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Background and regulation changes
In March 2003, the ACO announced changes to the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) classes that first took effect from the 2004 race. The former Le Mans Grand Touring Prototype and Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900) categories were merged and renamed Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) and was limited solely to manufacturers. Since the Le Mans Prototype 675 (LMP675) category had no car capable of challenging for the overall victory, the ACO designated it a lower class and renamed it Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2).


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Background and regulation changes
LMP900 and LMP675 cars built in compliance with the ACO technical regulations for the LMP and LMGTP categories could enter until 31 December 2005. Skid blocks were made 10 mm (0.39 in) thicker and the air restrictor size was reduced by five per cent. Teams in LMP1 and LMP2 could choose between an open or a closed cockpit. The maximum weight of LMP2 vehicles was established at 750 kg (1,650 lb) and 900 kg (2,000 lb) for LMP1 cars. Engine displacement for normally aspirated engines set at 3,400 cc (210 cu in), turbocharged engines were limited to 2,000 cc (120 cu in) and engine displacement for diesel power units was restricted to 5,500 cc (340 cu in).


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Background and regulation changes
After a series of airborne accidents in sports car racing, such as an accident involving a Porsche 911 GT1 at the 1998 Petit Le Mans and the Mercedes-Benz CLR at the 1999 Le Mans race, the ACO altered the bottom of the LMP1 and LMP2 cars to lower the amount of downforce produced outside of their wheelbase and a reduction in rear overhang coupled with an increase in front overhang for less pitch sensitivity to minimise the possibility of such a crash occurring. The rear wing was moved forward and shortened from 400 mm (40 cm) to 300 mm (30 cm). A 20 mm (2.0 cm) plank was added to the underside of all LMP cars to force an increase in ride height and reduce the effectiveness of underfloor aerodynamics.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries
The ACO received 77 applications (40 for the LMP classes and 37 for the Grand Touring (GT) categories) by the deadline for entries on 11 February 2004. It granted 50 invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and entries were divided between the LMP1, LMP2, Le Mans Grand Touring Sports (LMGTS) and Le Mans Grand Touring (LMGT) categories.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries, Automatic entries
Automatic entries were earned by teams which won their class in the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams which won Le Mans-based series and events such as the 2003 Petit Le Mans, the 2003 1000 km of Le Mans and the 2003 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) were also invited. Some second-place finishers were also granted automatic entries in certain series and races. Additionally, entries were also granted for the winners and runners-up in the GT and N-GT categories of the 2003 FIA GT Championship.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries, Automatic entries
Had the entry of the 2003 Petit Le Mans category winner been the same as the 2003 American Le Mans Series class champion, the second automatic entry would have been awarded to another team in that category under an agreement with the ACO and the ALMS. As entries were pre-selected to teams, teams were not allowed to change their cars from the previous year to the next. They were permitted to change category provided that they did not change the make of car and the ACO granted official permission for the switch.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries, Automatic entries
On 20 November 2003, the ACO published its initial list of automatic invitations. Team Bentley, Infineon Team Joest, Pescarolo Sport (after changing engine suppliers from Peugeot to Judd), RN Motorsport, Dyson Racing and Alex Job Racing did not accept their automatic entries; their places were taken by Champion Racing, Audi Sport Japan Team Goh and Lister Racing due to its performance in the GT category during the 2003 FIA GT Championship.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries, Entry list and reserves
The seven-member selection committee of the ACO announced the full 50-car entry list for Le Mans, plus six reserves on 25 March 2004. Following the publication of entries, several teams withdrew their entries. Arena Motorsport withdrew its Dome S101 car, promoting the No. 4 Taurus Sports Racing Lola B2K/10-Judd vehicle. Thierry Perrier's Porsche 911 GT3-RS was allowed to race after one of pre-selected BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello's was withdrawn, because the team did not have enough time to make the car compliant with ACO regulations and it wanted to focus on the 2004 FIA GT Championship.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries, Entry list and reserves
Later, a Ferrari 360 Modena GTC fielded by Risi Competizione was replaced by XL Racing's Ferrari in the list of entries. Konrad Motorsport and Welter Racing were subsequently granted the fourth and fifth reserve entries and XL Racing withdrew its Ferrari. A second Racing for Holland Dome car was promoted to give the team two LMP1 entries.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries, Entry list and reserves
On 21 April, the Car Racing team confirmed that its No. 67 Ferrari 550 was withdrawn due to financial problems from a lack of sponsorship and its place in the LMGT category was taken by a second Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport-entered TVR Tuscan 400R. Force One Racing pulled its Pagani Zonda from the entry list after a heavy crash at the ACI Vallelunga Circuit in Italy halted the car's development. This promoted Seikel Motorsport's No. 84 Porsche into the race.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Entries, Entry list and reserves
The No. 36 Gerard Welter car replaced the Spinnaker Clan Des Team car when the latter team withdrew on 1 June due to a lack of preparation and testing. Courage Compétition and its satellite operation Epsilon Sport were required by officials to withdraw one C65 chassis per team because an engine supply agreement with Mecachrome was terminated and both outfits sourced replacement engines from JPX.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Testing
A mandatory pre-Le Mans test day split into two daytime sessions of four hours each was held at the circuit on 25 April, involving all 50 entries and two of the six reserve cars. Audi set the pace of the day with a 3 minutes, 32.613 seconds lap from Allan McNish's No. 8 Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx R8 with six minutes to go, followed by Johnny Herbert's No. 88 Audi in second. Champion Racing was third with a lap from Marco Werner and Tom Kristensen was fourth for Team Goh.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Testing
The fastest two non-Audis were the fifth-placed David Brabham in the No. 22 Zytek 04S car and Hiroki Kato's No. 9 Kondo Racing Dome S101 vehicle in sixth position. Max Papis led the LMGTS class in the No. 63 Corvette Racing C5-R with a lap of 3 minutes, 49.982 seconds set in the final minutes of the second session ahead of the sister No. 63 Corvette of Oliver Gavin and the No. 69 Larbre Compétition Ferrari of Christophe Bouchut. Rounding out the top five in the category were the Prodrive Ferrari cars of Tomáš Enge and Rickard Rydell.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Testing
Jörg Bergmeister's No. 90 White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3-RSR led LMGT with a 4 minutes, 5.975 seconds lap, followed by Marc Lieb's No. 87 Orbit Racing car, which was sidelined for 2+1⁄2 hours with a broken steering rack after a crash against a guardrail at Tertre Rouge corner. A seal failure that mixed oil and diesel in the Taurus Lola and leaked oil on the Mulsanne Straight and a crash for Noël del Bello Racing's entry at Mulsanne Corner led to further stoppages during testing.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Eight hours of qualifying divided into four two-hour sessions were available to all the entrants on 9 and 10 June. During the sessions, all entrants were required to set a time within 110 per cent of the fastest lap established by the fastest vehicle in each of the four categories to qualify for the race. Audi led the time sheets early on and Herbert's No. 88 car recorded a fastest lap of 3 minutes, 34.907 seconds on the final lap of the session.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Kristensen's Team Goh Audi was more than two seconds slower in second and he was followed by McNish in the No. 8 car in third position. Jan Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome car was the fastest non-Audi in fourth place. The No. 2 Champion Audi of JJ Lehto took fifth, Soheil Ayari's No. 18 Pescarolo C60 car took sixth and Brabham put the No. 22 Zytek 04S vehicle in seventh. Pierre Kaffer damaged the No. 8 Audi Sport UK car after an error put him off the track at the first Mulsanne Chicane.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
With a lap of 3 minutes, 46.020 seconds, Jean-Marc Gounon's No. 31 Courage C65 vehicle led in LMP2, more than eleven seconds ahead of its sister No. 35 Epsilon Sport car and the No. 24 Rachel Welter WR LM2001 entry. The No. 64 Corvette C5-R of Olivier Beretta set the early pace in LMGTS and his co-driver Gavin bettered his effort to establish the class' best lap at 3 minutes, 54.359 seconds. Peter Kox for Prodrive was the fastest Ferrari in second and Ron Fellows' No. 63 Corvette followed in third place. The second Prodrive Ferrari was fourth courtesy of a lap from rally driver Colin McRae. In LMGT, Bergmeister's No. 90 White Lightning Porsche led the class with a lap of 4 minutes, 9.679 seconds, ahead of Stéphane Daoudi in the No. 70 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena GTC.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Teams used the opening minutes of the second qualifying session to fine tune their cars and record their fastest lap times in lower ambient and track temperatures. Herbert could not improve the No. 88 Audi Sport UK R8's best lap due to a minor gear selection fault and slower traffic. McNish's sister No. 8 car bettered it with a time of 3 minutes, 34.683 seconds. No other driver improved their times over the rest of the session, enabling the No. 8 Audi to take provisional pole position from the No. 88 vehicle.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Kristensen's Team Goh car fell to third after damaging its front splitter in a collision with a Chevrolet Corvette C5-R at Arnage corner, as Werner moved Champion's entry to fourth and complete an Audi sweep of the first four positions. Sébastien Bourdais drove the No. 17 Pescarolo C60 car to fifth despite a fuel pressure problem and a minor crash by co-driver Nicolas Minassian. The No. 15 Racing for Holland Dome car improved to sixth and the No. 6 Rollcentre Racing Dallara SP1 vehicle took seventh.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Courage No. 31 C65's lap time in LMP2 moved the car to eleventh overall, ahead of the clutch-stricken No. 15 Racing for Holland car. It remained eleven seconds in front of the Epsilon Sport team. Corvette Racing continued to lead in LMGTS with Gavin's No. 64 C5-R improving its best lap to a 3 minutes, 52.158 seconds. He was more than two seconds quicker than Fellows' No. 63 entry and a further second faster than Enge's No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari, who collided with a barrier at Indianapolis corner. Bergmesiter improved the No. 90 White Lighting Porsche's best lap in LMGT to a 4 minutes, 9.679 seconds and went three seconds ahead of the JMB Ferrari.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Rain showers on 10 June removed rubber laid on the track by cars and lap times in the third session were expect were expected to be slower than before. However, ambient and track temperatures increased, allowing drivers to better their laps from the previous day. McNish went fastest overall before his Audi Sport UK teammate Herbert recorded the fastest lap at 3 minutes, 33.024 seconds on a new gurney flap with five minutes to go. Brabham in the No. 22 Zytek 04S car moved from provisional seventh to third by getting his first clear lap of the weekend.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Rinaldo Capello made a minor improvement to the Team Goh Audi's quickest lap though the team fell to fourth and the Champion car to fifth. Bourdais set a lap which kept the No. 17 Pescarolo C60 vehicle in sixth and Katoh was the fastest of the Dome S101 cars in seventh. LMP2 continued to be paced by Gounon's No. 31 Courage C65 car and the Paul Belmondo Racing team took second place in the category.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
In LMGTS, Rydell's No. 65 Prodrive Ferrari moved to the front of the category and he maintained it until Gavin's lap of 3 minutes, 49.750 in the No. 64 Corvette reset the class lap record ten minutes later. The second Corvette driven by Johnny O'Connell was third and the other Prodrive Ferrari of Kox dropped to fourth. The LMGT category saw Sascha Maassen's No. 90 White Lightning Porsche improve its lap to a 4 minutes, 7.394 seconds. Mike Rockenfeller's No. 87 Orbit car came within less than two seconds behind in second and Stéphane Ortelli's No. 85 Freisinger Motorsport entry finished the session in third.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
In the final qualifying session, Herbert in the No. 88 Audi set a new fastest time of 3 minutes, 32.838 seconds eight minutes in. He held the top of the time charts to take his first pole position at Le Mans and the fourth of his motor racing career. McNish improved the No. 8 Audi's time to join Herbert on the grid's front row after missing much of the session due to a lack of power caused by a failed fuel injector that necessitated an engine change.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
Brabham could not improve on his lap from the third session and began from third. Kristensen bettered Team Goh Audi's best time but remained in fourth, as Bourdais took fifth in the No. 17 Pescarolo C60 car. Werner's Champion Audi went faster for sixth after a front shock absorber repair, and Katoh took seventh. Gounon earned the Courage team pole position in the LMP2 category by improving the No. 31 car's best lap to a 3 minutes, 41.126 seconds and going 12th-fastest overall. The Paul Belmondo Racing team was ten seconds slower for second in its class.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying
After the No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari was damaged in an accident in the Porsche Curves, Enge took the top spot from Gavin's No. 64 Corvette in LMGTS with a 3 minutes, 49.438 seconds lap with ten minutes to go in the session. An improvement by O'Connell's No. 63 Corvette qualified it in third. White Lighting's third session lap secured the team the LMGT category pole position, with Jaime Melo's JMB Ferrari and Rockenfeller's Orbit Porsche second and third in class.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Qualifying, Qualifying results
Pole position winners in each class are indicated in bold. The fastest time set by each entry is denoted in gray.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Warm-up
The drivers took to the track at 09:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00) for a 45-minute warm-up session in clear weather. Teams used the session as a final opportunity to check the setup and reliability of their cars. Lehto's No. 2 Champion Audi set the fastest time with a 3 minutes, 36.078 seconds. The two Audi Sport UK R8s were second and third with the No. 8 narrowly ahead of the No. 88. Bourdais's No. 17 Pescarolo C60 car was fourth.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Warm-up
The Team Goh Audi placed fifth, Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome car and the No. 22 Zytek 04S vehicle were sixth and seventh. The fastest LMP2 lap was recorded by Intersport Racing's Lola car at 4 minutes, 5.032 seconds. The No. 63 Corvette was the quickest vehicle in the LMGTS category and JMB's No. 70 Ferrari led in LMGT. Although the session passed without a major incident, Bourdais' engine cover came off his Pescarolo C60 car, and several drivers ran into the gravel traps beside the track.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
The weather at the start was overcast with an air temperature of 25 °C (77 °F) and a track temperature of 28 °C (82 °F). There were 200,000 people in attendance. The French tricolour was waved by François Fillon, the Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research, at 16:00 local time to start the race, led by the starting pole sitter Jamie Davies.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
A total of 48 cars planned to start but the No. 10 Lola B2K/10 and the No. 61 Barron Connor Racing Ferrari 575-GTC began from the pit lane due to a change of clutch and engine, respectively. The No. 14 Team Nasamax DM139 was extricated from the track too late after a fuel consumption test but the car joined the grid. Davies held off a challenge from his teammate McNish into the Dunlop Curve to lead the opening laps.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
The other two Audis of Lehto and Capello and Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome entry passed Andy Wallace's Zytek car to demote it from third to sixth. The top five cars in LMGTS were nose-to-tail with Kox leading and a throttle sensor problem for Lammers on the Mulsanne Straight on lap four dropped him to 24th. Capello spun into a gravel trap at the Dunlop Curves four laps later and he rejoined behind Lammers.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
Before the first hour ended a change of electronic control unit for Capello's Team Goh Audi dropped him off the lead lap as Gavin's Corvette took the lead of LMGTS. His teammate Fellows crashed against a tyre barrier at Arnage corner and was forced to enter the pit lane. Repairs to the front of the No. 63 car lost it five laps and O'Connell relieved Fellows.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
On 1 hour and 52 minutes, McNish and Lehto's cars lost control when they drove onto a patch of oil laid on the track at the entrance to the Porsche Curves, spun across a gravel trap and crashed into a tyre barrier in unison, temporarily knocking McNish unconscious. Both cars sustained heavy damage and recovery from trackside equipment allowed McNish and Lehto to return to the garage for extensive repairs. Soon after vacating the No. 8 car in the garage McNish collapsed and two doctors examined him.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
He was taken to the circuit's medical centre suffering from a sore knee and concussion. Doctors ruled him unfit for the rest of the event. The safety cars were deployed to slow the race as marshals worked to clear debris from the track. As the safety cars were recalled Brabham's Zytek vehicle sustained bodywork damage from picking up a puncture and John Field crashed the No. 27 Intersport Lola car at the second Mulsanne Chicane. Later in the second hour, the Champion and Team Goh Audi entries returned to the track outside of the top 40 overall positions.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
Ryo Michigami's No. 9 Kondo Dome vehicle had a transmission failure on the final third of the lap and he drove to the garage for repairs. He fell to fifth, behind the No. 18 Pescarolo C60 car of Érik Comas and Katsutomo Kaneishi's No. 15 Racing for Holland car. The attrition rate promoted Sam Hancock's No. 31 Courage C65 car to sixth overall.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
At the front of the field, Smith's No. 88 Audi R8 led the Team Goh entry of Seiji Ara by one lap. Enge set the fastest lap in LMGTS to a 3 minutes, 53.327 seconds to be 17 seconds behind the class-leading No. 64 Corvette of Jan Magnussen. Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome vehicle overtook Benoît Tréluyer's No 17 Pescarolo C60 car for third overall until a fuel pump failed and needed replacing.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
Hancock's No. 31 Courage C65 car ceded the lead in LMP2 to the sister Epsilon Sport entry, after a faulty rear gearbox selection mechanism required attention from mechanics. Repairs took 20 minutes and dropped the car down the race order. Not long after Robert Hearn lost control of Freisinger's No. 86 Porsche, and damaged the rear of his car against the inside barrier at the exit to the Karting Esses. Hearn was unable to get the Porsche moving again and retired.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Start
After relieving Smith, Herbert responded to Ara's faster pace, stabilising the gap at the front of the field, which increased after Ara ran into a gravel trap on the Mulsanne Straight. McRae's No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari was second in LMGTS until he spun at a Mulsanne Chicane after moving onto a dirty section of track to allow a faster LMP car past. His clutch began to slip afterward and Prodrive changed the device; the resulting pit stop dropped McRae eight laps behind Gavin's LMGTS leading Corvette.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
As night fell, the No. 17 Pescarolo C60 car was driven into the team's garage with a broken alternator belt. Repairs took 14 minutes and elevated the No. 22 Zytek car of Hayanari Shimoda back into the top ten. Fellows had a rear-left puncture on a crest on the Mulsanne Straight that threw the No. 63 Corvette into a barrier. The car sustained heavy damage to its rear and left-hand corner. Paul Belmondo crashed the No. 37 Courage C65 car when his vision became obscured by a thick dust cloud.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
The car sustained a puncture in its tub's front-right hand section and was retired in the garage. The accident led to a second brief safety car intervention. As the safety car period ended Darren Turner spun the No. 65 Prodrive Ferrari into a gravel trap at the Dunlop Chicane and Chris Dyson ran the No. 15 Racing for Holland Dome into a gravel trap, requiring him to make a pit stop.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
At midnight, the two lead Audi cars were separated by a lap and Lehto drew closer to the leader of the LMGTS class, the No. 64 Corvette in fifth overall. Maassen slid the No. 90 White Lightning Porsche on oil in the Porsche Curves; he still led in the LMGT category. Lehto overtook Beretta to be ahead of all the LMGTS entries and bring the number of Audis in the top five overall positions to three.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
After Davies' No. 88 Audi served a stop-and-go penalty for passing under yellow flag conditions, he and Magnussen collided with one another at the Ford Chicane and sending the No. 64 Corvette softly into a trackside tyre wall. Davies and Magnussen were able to get their cars back to the pit lane for repairs. The incident gave the No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari of Alain Menu the lead of LMGTS and the gap between Davies and Kristensen was reduced to less than one lap.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
The No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari was later forced to enter the pit lane with a suspected misfire though it was later discovered that a section of rubber was lodged inside an air restrictor. Menu's Ferrari spent seven minutes undergoing repairs; it rejoined the race with his lead in the LMGTS category over the No. 64 Corvette lowered from four to 2+1⁄2 laps and the Kondo Dome moved ahead of him.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
The No. 90 White Lightning Porsche continued to lead the LMGT class but in the eleventh hour, the car ceded the lead it had held for the majority of the race when Bergmeister drove into the pit lane to replace a broken shifter linkage cable on its sequential gearbox and underwent a change of brakes. Patrick Long relieved Bergmeister and returned to the track in second, three laps behind Ralf Kelleners' No. 85 Freisinger Porsche. The No. 32 Intersport Lola car of William Binnie was required to enter the pit lane with a broken right-rear halfshaft but the car rejoined the circuit more than half an hour later without losing the lead in LMP2.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
As the race approached its halfway point, the No. 22 Zytek car began leaking oil across the circuit at the Porsche Curves due to a possible broken chunk of bodywork hitting an oil union as the engine compartment caught fire from a lack of oil pressure. Brabham drove the car into the pit lane with flames erupting from its compartment bay and it was retired as the safety cars were dispatched for the third time.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
During the safety car period, Kristensen brought the Team Goh Audi into the pit lane to rectify a misfire he had between the past two hours and the Barron Connor No. 61 Ferrari experienced a left-front brake disc fire that necessitated the car's retirement after mechanics were unable to extinguish the fire and a change of uprights on its suspension system failed to work. In the 12th hour, Gavin missed the braking point for the first Mulsanne Chicane and damaged the front of the No. 64 Corvette.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Night
A 15-minute pit stop dropped the Corvette six laps behind Kox's LMGTS-leading No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari and to 11th overall. Not long after, Turner's No. 65 Prodrive Ferrari was affected by gear selection problems and the car spent most of the past hour in the garage. The car fell to fifth in LMGTS. At the front of the field the safety cars separated the field with the race-leading Audi Sport UK R8 of Herbert one lap ahead of Ara's Team Goh R8.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
In the early morning, Pirro's Champion Audi was fifth but fell behind Martin Short's No. 6 Rollcentre Dallara SP1 car due to an eight-minute change of brake disc. The No. 17 Pescarolo vehicle passed Enge for eighth overall. Intersport had an anxious moment when Clint Field picked up a right-rear puncture that caused the No. 31 Lola to pirouette leaving the Ford Curves before the entry to the pit lane. He was able to return to the pit lane for a replacement wheel and the Lola retained the LMP2 lead.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
Before the conclusion of the 15th hour, Short's No. 6 Dallara was hit from behind by Bourdais' No. 17 Pescarolo entry while he was lapping the car after the Dunlop Curve and was beached in a gravel trap. Trackside equipment extricated Short from the gravel and he continued in fourth position. The No. 88 Audi Sport UK R8 of Davies returned to the garage to correct an handling imbalance caused by a seized rear suspension pushrod bearing that took seven minutes to rectify, and promoted the Team Goh car of Capello to the lead.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
After ceding fourth to the Champion Audi, the No. 6 Dallara car driven by Short experienced a left-rear suspension failure in the Karting Esses. The car spun through 360 degrees and crashed heavily broadside into a tyre barrier at high speed. Short was unhurt though the damage to the car necessitated its retirement.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
At this point, Davies set the race's fastest lap at 3 minutes and 34.264 seconds to lower Capello's lead. Comas drove the No. 17 Pescarolo car into the pit lane for repairs to its engine and he remained in third position. Pirro in fourth ran straight at the Mulsanne Corner and beached the Champion Audi R8 in a gravel trap. He recovered with assistance from marshals and made a pit stop for new tyres and Lehto relieved him. Soon after, the race-leading Capello locked his tyres and ran across the second Mulsanne Chicane.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
He drove the Team Goh Audi into the pit lane because he was fearful of a heavily flat spotted tyre disintegrating and Kristensen took over the No. 5 car. The No. 17 Pescarolo 60 car now driven by Tréluyer launched over a kerb at a Mulsanne Chicane and a subsequent crash into the barrier lost him third to Lehto's Champion Audi R8. Enge's No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari led by five laps in the LMGTS category when its front-left wheel bearing seized in the Dunlop Chicane and damaged the front splitter.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
The car returned to the garage, losing the class lead to Beretta's No. 64 Corvette. Davies spun the No. 88 Audi Sport UK R8 at the Dunlop Chicane; the error did not lose him a significant amount of time. Further down the order, the No. 85 Freisinger Porsche stopped with an oil feed problem and White Lighting took the lead of LMGT.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
Team Goh had an anxious moment when fuel was spilt on the rear of Capello's R8 and ignited. Capello exited the car quickly as flames spread to its right rear though marshals extinguished the fire. Mechanics checked the car for damage and Capello resumed half a minute later. The incident allowed Davies in the No. 88 Audi Sport UK R8 to close to within 90 seconds of the Team Goh Audi but slower traffic subsequently delayed him.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Morning to early afternoon
Over an hour after losing the LMGTS lead, Menu, driving the No. 66 Prodrive Ferrari, was forced to replace the front splitter on the car in an attempt to correct a handling problem. It did not, however, result in an improvement and Menu drove into the garage for further repairs to the car's undertray. Enge relieved Menu and damaged the front of the Ferrari in an impact against a wall at Indianapolis corner on his first lap out of the pit lane. It dropped him to fourth in class behind Papis' No. 63 Corvette and Rydell's No. 65 Prodrive Ferrari. ChoroQ Racing Team moved to second place in LMGT after Freisinger's Porsche of Ortelli developed a misfire and dropped to third position in class.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Finish
The No. 5 Team Goh Audi of Ara withstood a challenge from Herbert's faster No. 88 Audi Sport UK car in the final two hours of the race to take Audi's fourth win in five years at Le Mans by 41.354 seconds, at a distance of 5,169.9 km (3,212.4 mi) and an average speed of 215.418 km/h (133.855 mph). It was Ara's first Le Mans win, Capello's second and Kristensen's sixth. Kristensen equalled Jacky Ickx's all-time record of six victories and was the first driver to win the 24-hour race five times in a row.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Finish
Champion Racing recovered from its crash in the second hour to finish third. The highest-placed non-Audi was the No. 18 Pescarolo C60 car of Ayari, Comas and Tréluyer in fourth and the No. 8 Audi Sport UK R8 of Frank Biela and Kaffer finished fifth. Although Corvette Racing ran out of spare parts because of the incidents it was involved in, the No. 63 held an 11-lap lead over the No. 64 to finish sixth overall and win the category, earning the team their third class victory.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race, Finish
Prodrive completed the class podium with McRae, Rydell and Turner's No. 65 Ferrari in front of the No. 66 of Enge, Kox and Menu. Porsche took the first six positions in the LMGT class as the No. 90 White Lighting entry took its second consecutive category win following its 2003 victory in conjunction with Alex Job Racing and extended the Porsche 911-GT3 RS' number of Le Mans class victories to six since its début in the 1999 edition. By finishing 17th, Team Nasamax's bio-ethanol-powered DM138 became the first renewable-fuelled car in history to finish the Le Mans event. The crew of the No. 32 Intersport car were victorious in LMP2, placing 25th overall and eight laps ahead of the No. 24 Rachel Welter WR LM2001 vehicle, the only other vehicle to finish in the class.


2004 24 Hours of Le Mans, Race classification
The minimum number of laps for classification (70 per cent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 265 laps. Class winners are denoted with bold.


2004 3. divisjon
The 2004 season of the 3. divisjon, the fourth highest association football league for men in Norway.


2004 3. divisjon
22 games were played in 24 groups, with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. Twelve teams were promoted to the 2. divisjon through playoff.


2004 4 Nations Cup
The 2004 4 Nations Cup was the ninth playing of the annual women's ice hockey tournament. It was held in Lake Placid, New York and Burlington, Vermont, from November 10–14, 2004.


2004 A Lyga
The Lithuanian A Lyga 2004 was the 15th season of top-tier football in Lithuania. The season started on 18 April 2004 and ended on 7 November 2004. 8 teams participated with FBK Kaunas winning the championship.


2004 A3 Champions Cup
The 2004 A3 Champions Cup was second edition of A3 Champions Cup. It was held from February 22 to 28, 2003 in Shanghai, China PR.


2004 AAA Championships
The 2004 AAA Championships was an outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), held from 10–11 July at the Manchester Regional Arena in Manchester, England. It was considered the de facto national championships for the United Kingdom.


2004 AAA Championships
This edition of the AAA Championships was billed as a British Olympic trials event.


2004 AAPT Championships
The 2004 AAPT Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Adelaide in Australia and was part of the International Series of the 2004 ATP Tour. The tournament ran from 5 through 11 January 2004.


2004 AAPT Championships, Finals, Doubles
Bob Bryan /  Mike Bryan defeated  Arnaud Clément /  Michaël Llodra 7–5, 6–3


2004 AAPT Championships – Doubles
Jeff Coetzee and Chris Haggard were the defending champions but did not compete that year.


2004 AAPT Championships – Doubles
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won in the final 7–5, 6–3 against Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra.


2004 AAPT Championships – Singles
Nikolay Davydenko was the defending champion but did not compete that year.


2004 AAPT Championships – Singles
Dominik Hrbatý won in the final 6–4, 6–0 against Michaël Llodra.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands. It was part of the International Series Gold of the 2004 ATP Tour. The tournament ran from 16 February through 22 February 2004.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The singles line up was led by new World No. 1, Tennis Masters Cup, Wimbledon and Australian Open winner Roger Federer, reigning French Open champion, US Open runner-up and Australian Open semifinalist Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tokyo and Lyon champion Rainer Schüttler. Other contenders were Chennai runner-up Paradorn Srichaphan, Paris Masters winner Tim Henman, Lleyton Hewitt, Sjeng Schalken and Martin Verkerk.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Finals, Doubles
Paul Hanley /  Radek Štěpánek defeated  Jonathan Erlich /  Andy Ram 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 7–5


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles
Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley were the defending champions but only Hanley competed that year with Radek Štěpánek.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles
Hanley and Štěpánek won in the final 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 7–5 against Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles, Seeds
Champion seeds are indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which those seeds were eliminated.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles
Max Mirnyi was the defending champion but lost in the semifinals to Juan Carlos Ferrero.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles
Lleyton Hewitt won in the final 6–7(1–7), 7–5, 6–4 against Ferrero.


2004 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.


2004 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place from March 11–14 in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Maryland Terrapins won the tournament as the #6 seed, upsetting #3 seed Wake Forest, #2 seed NC State, and top seed Duke in succession on their way to the championship. It was Maryland's third tournament title, and their first since 1984. Maryland's John Gilchrist won the Most Valuable Player award. Maryland's championship ended Duke's streak of five straight ACC championships.


2004 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2004 ACC Tournament was the final event with nine participating teams. Virginia Tech and University of Miami from the Big East Conference joined the ACC for the 2004–2005 season.


2004 ACC Trophy
The 2004 ACC Trophy was a cricket tournament in Malaysia, taking place between 12 and 24 June 2004. It gave Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and also helps forms an essential part of regional rankings. The tournament was won by the UAE who defeated Oman in the final by 94 runs.


2004 ACC Trophy, Teams
The teams were separated into four groups: three groups of four teams and one group of three teams. The following teams took part in the tournament:


2004 ACC Trophy, Group stages
The top two from each group qualified for the quarter-finals.


2004 AF2 season
The 2004 AF2 season was the fifth season of the AF2. It was preceded by 2003 and succeeded by 2005. The league champions were the Florida Firecats, who defeated the Peoria Pirates in ArenaCup V.


2004 AF2 season, ArenaCup V
ArenaCup V was the 2004 edition of the AF2's championship game, in which the National Conference Champions Florida Firecats defeated the American Conference Champions Peoria Pirates in Estero, Florida by a score of 39 to 26 .


2004 AFC Asian Cup
The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. The defending champions Japan defeated China in the final in Beijing.


2004 AFC Asian Cup
The tournament was marked by Saudi Arabia's unexpected failure to even make it out of the first round; a surprisingly good performance by Bahrain, which finished in fourth place; Jordan, which reached the quarterfinals in its first appearance and Indonesia, which gained their historical first Asian Cup win against Qatar. The final match between China and Japan was marked by post-match rioting by Chinese fans near the north gate of Beijing Workers' Stadium, in part due to controversial officiating and anti-Japanese sentiment resulting from historical tensions.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Qualification
The lowest-ranked 20 teams were placed in 6 preliminary qualifying groups of 3 and one group of 2, with the group winners joining the remaining 21 teams in 7 groups of 4. The top two of each of these groups qualified for the finals in China.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Squads
For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 2004 AFC Asian Cup squads.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Tournament summary
This competition saw a huge number of surprises. The first surprise named Bahrain was in group A, which, despite being just its second tournament, held on China and fellow neighbor Qatar before beating Indonesia 3–1, with the Hubail's brothers Mohamed and Ala'a instrumental in bringing Bahrain to the quarter-finals. Host China, after a shock draw to Bahrain, easily progressed to the next round after thrashing Indonesia 5–0 before Xu Yunlong scored the decisive goal in China's hard fought win over Qatar to process.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Tournament summary
In group B, Jordan emerged as a second surprise, as the country just made its debut in the competition. Jordan surprised the whole tournament by two draws to the United Arab Emirates and, especially, a successful goalless draw to South Korea which had already finished in fourth place at the 2002 FIFA World Cup earlier, between that, Jordan shocked Kuwait with two late goals to seal a 2–0 victory, thus finishing second and progressed to the next round alongside South Korea, which, after being held by Jordan, decisively beat Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to progress.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Tournament summary
The two other debutants were Turkmenistan and Oman in group C and D surprised by not finishing bottom in their group, though they failed to progress. Instead, it was the two experienced Saudi Arabia and Thailand which disappointed most of fans, finishing bottom after disastrous performances. In group C, Uzbekistan also surprised by topping the group with three straight 1–0 win while Japan and Iran were able to progress in group D after a final goalless draw and better result than Oman. Iraq was the other qualifier in group C, after beating both Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia only by one goal margin.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Tournament summary
The quarter-finals saw Jordan caused significant problem for Japan, and Jordan was thought to have almost qualified for the semi-finals in the penalty shootout. However, four straight misses later cost Jordan's semi-final dream to end. Uzbekistan and Bahrain held on in a 2–2 draw and Bahrain prevailed after penalty shootout. Host China easily crushed Iraq 3–0, with Zheng Zhi scored two penalties to take Iraq home, while South Korea and Iran created the most phenomenon match in the tournament, an insane thriller where Iran prevailed 4–3 in what would be perceived as the greatest Asian Cup match in the history.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Tournament summary
The first semi-final saw Iran and host China battling for the final, with both being held 1–1, despite Iran was down to ten men. China eventually won in penalty shootout. The other semi-final was another insane thriller between Bahrain and Japan, with the Japanese won after extra times thanked for a goal by Keiji Tamada in early minutes of the first half of extra times, thus sent Japan to the final against host China. Iran overcame Bahrain in a consolidating third place encounter, 4–2, to acquire bronze.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Tournament summary
The final in Beijing saw China lost to Japan, with a controversial handball goal by Koji Nakata that sealed the game. The win meant Japan had successfully defended their title they achieved four years ago. The outcome frustrated many Chinese supporters, who ended up rioting outside Workers' Stadium over referee's controversial decision allowing the handball goal of Koji Nakata.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Statistics, Goalscorers
With five goals, A'ala Hubail and Ali Karimi are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 96 goals were scored by 58 different players, with two of them credited as own goals.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Views
Like other sports events, the Asian Cup 2004 was publicised as evidence of China's economic and athletic progress, being referred to by some as a prelude to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Many Chinese see the tournament as a success and take great pride in having showcased such an important sporting event in advance of the Olympic Games. However, the Japanese media and many other international observers have pointed out bad manners on the part of Chinese fans, and sparse attendance at the tournament, raising questions on China's ability to hold such sporting events.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Views
Throughout the tournament, most Chinese fans in the stadia expressed anti-Japanese sentiments by drowning out the Japanese national anthem, displaying political banners and booing whenever Japan got the ball, regardless of the score or opponent. This was reported by the international media, and was aggravated when Koji Nakata apparently knocked in the ball with his right hand in the final against China. The PRC government responded by calling for restraint and increasing police numbers to maintain order.


2004 AFC Asian Cup, Views
The Japanese government also called on the PRC to ensure the safety of Japanese fans, while specifically asking Japanese nationals or people of Japanese origin to not display any form of excessive pride, especially wearing Japan national football team uniforms. Despite the Chinese government's campaign, a riot started by Chinese fans broke out near the north gate of the Workers' Stadium, though reports differ as to the extent of the riot. As a result, some media groups have said that displays of "excessive Chinese nationalism during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics have become a cause for concern for Chinese officials".


2004 AFC Asian Cup Final
The 2004 AFC Asian Cup Final was an association football match that took place on 7 August 2004 at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing, People's Republic of China, to determine the winner of the 2004 AFC Asian Cup.


2004 AFC Asian Cup Final, Overview
Japan defeated China 3–1. This was the third time that Japan won the AFC Asian Cup.


2004 AFC Asian Cup Final, Overview
The tournament's closing ceremony was held immediately prior to kickoff.


2004 AFC Asian Cup Final, Overview
Japanese player Koji Nakata's handball goal in the 68th minute was controversially allowed by the referee.


2004 AFC Asian Cup Final, Match, Details
Assistant referees: Saad Al Fadhli (Kuwait) Ali Al Khalifi (Qatar) Fourth official: Fathi Arabati (Jordan)


2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
The qualification process for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup football competition began on March 2003. Out of the 45 AFC members only Cambodia and the Philippines failed to enter for the tournament. Both China, the hosts and Japan, the reigning champions automatically qualified for the finals. The lowest ranked 20 teams were placed in 6 preliminary qualifying groups of 3 and one group of 2, with the group winners joining the remaining 21 teams in 7 groups of 4. The top two of each of these groups qualified for the finals in China.


2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Qualifying round, Group D
1 The match was originally scheduled to be held on September 27, 2003, but was postponed to the following week as the North Korean team failed to arrive in Lebanon due to a traffic accident in Pyongyang.


2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Qualifying round, Group D
2 The match was abandoned in the 60th minute with Iran leading 1-0 after North Korea walked off when Iranian fans threw firecrackers on the pitch and refused to continue. The match was awarded 3–0 to Iran, but Iran were also ordered to play their next home match in an official AFC or FIFA competition behind closed doors.


2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Qualifying round, Group D
3 The match was not played as North Korean immigration officials did not issue the Jordanian team visas, meaning they were refused entry into the country. The match was awarded 3–0 to Jordan, while North Korea were banned from AFC competitions for a year and from qualifying for the 2007 Asian Cup.


2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Qualifying round, Group G
NB: All of Sri Lanka's home matches were played away.


2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Qualifying round, Group G
1 Syria failed to show up for the match. The match was awarded 3–0 to Turkmenistan.


2004 AFC Asian Cup squads
Squads for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup played in China from 17 July to 7 August 2004.


2004 AFC Champions League
The 2004 AFC Champions League was the 23rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament and the 2nd edition under the current AFC Champions League title. The title was won by Al-Ittihad over Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.


2004 AFC Champions League, Format
A total of 28 clubs were divided into 7 groups of four, based on region i.e. East Asian and Southeast Asian clubs were drawn in groups E to G, while the rest were grouped in groups A to D.  Each club played double round-robin (home and away) against fellow three group members, a total of 6 matches each. Clubs received 3pts for a win, 1pt for a tie, 0pts for a loss. The clubs were ranked according to points and tie breakers were in the following order:


2004 AFC Champions League, Format
The seven group winners along with the defending champion advanced to the quarter-finals.


2004 AFC Champions League, Format
All 8 clubs were randomly matched; however, the only restriction was that the clubs from the same country could not face each other in the quarter-finals. The games were conducted in 2 legs, home and away, and the aggregate score decided the match winner. If the aggregate score couldn't produce a winner, "away goals rule" was used. If still tied, clubs played extra time, where "away goals rule" still applied. If still tied, the game went to penalties.


2004 AFC Champions League, Knock-out stage, Quarter-finals
First-leg home team shown first. First-leg home team score shown first for both legs.


2004 AFC Champions League, Knock-out stage, Semifinals
First-leg home team shown first. First-leg home team score shown first for both legs.


2004 AFC Champions League, Knock-out stage, Final
First-leg home team shown first. First-leg home team score shown first for both legs.


2004 AFC Cup
The 2004 AFC Cup was the first edition of the AFC Cup, playing between clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation.


2004 AFC Cup, Qualification
The 'developing' 14 nations in the Asian Football Confederation were invited to nominate one or two clubs to participate in the 2004 competition.


2004 AFC Cup, Group stage, Group A
1Al Sha'ab Ibb were awarded a 3–0 win as Muktijoddha Sangsad KS did not show up for the match. 2The match was cancelled after a general strike in Yemen left Al Sha'ab Ibb unable to show up for the match.


2004 AFC Cup, Group stage, Best runners-up
Three  best runners-up, one from groups A, B and C and two from groups D and E, qualify for the quarter finals.


2004 AFC Futsal Championship
The 2004 AFC Futsal Championship was held in Macau, China from 16 April to 25 April 2004.


2004 AFC U-17 Championship
The 2004 AFC U-17 Championship was the 11th AFC U-17 Championship, which was held between 4 and 18 September 2004 in Japan.


2004 AFC U-17 Championship
China won their second title after beating Korea DPR 1-0 in the final.


2004 AFC U-17 Championship, Venues
The matches were played in the following five venues. Three venues in the Shizuoka Prefecture and two in the Fukushima Prefecture.


2004 AFC U-17 Championship qualification
The AFC U-17 Championship 2004 Qualification was held from October 11th through the 15th in 2003. The drawing for its matchups was conducted on July 18th, 2003 at the AFC office in Kuala Lumpur.


2004 AFC U-19 Women's Championship
The 2004 AFC U-19 Women's Championship was the second instance of the AFC U-19 Women's Championship. It was held from May 25 to June 6, 2004 in Suzhou, China PR.


2004 AFC Youth Championship
The Asian Football Confederations AFC Youth Championship 2004 was the 33rd instance of the AFC Youth Championship. It was held from 25 September to 9 October 2004 in Malaysia. The tournament was won by for the eleventh time by South Korea in the final against China PR.


2004 AFC Youth Championship qualification
The AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification was held in 15 places in 2003, Malaysia with 15 qualified teams advanced to the final phase.


2004 AFF Championship
The 2004 AFF Championship, officially known as the 2004 Tiger Cup, was the 5th edition of the AFF Championship, was jointly hosted by Vietnam and Malaysia from 7 December to 16 January 2005 and participated by the national football teams of Southeast Asia.


2004 AFF Championship
The championship started off with group matches, where the top two teams from each group advanced to the semi-finals and the final, which was played in a home and away format.


2004 AFF Championship, Summary
In the group matches, Indonesia, coached by former Thailand coach Peter Withe, emerged as the Group A winners with ten points, 17 goals scored and none conceded. They were the hot favourites to win the 2004 AFF Championship after bundling out the hosts Vietnam with an unexpected 3–0 victory. Less than a day after the match had ended, the Vietnam Football Federation requested the resignation from its national coach Edson Tavares, despite his requests to stay on until the last match. Singapore, led by Radojko Avramović pipped out the hosts by just a single point and remained to be the only team in the championship to not lose a single match.


2004 AFF Championship, Summary
Following the tournament motto "Anything can happen", Myanmar, under coach Ivan Kolev emerged as the surprise, holding defending champions Thailand to a draw and beating Malaysia on their own turf.


2004 AFF Championship, Teams
All teams from member associations of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) participated with the exception of Brunei. However, they would be replaced by the world's newest country when sponsors Tiger Beer stated in May 2004 that East Timor would be joining the competition. This kept the tournament at 10 teams.


2004 AFF Championship, Team statistics
This table will show the ranking of teams throughout the tournament.


2004 AFF Championship squads
Below are the squads for the 2004 AFF Championship, co-hosted by Vietnam and Malaysia, which took place between 7 December 2004 and 16 January 2005. The players' listed age is their age on the tournament's opening day (7 December 2004).


2004 AFF Women's Championship
The  2004 AFF Women's Championship was hosted by Vietnam. The inaugural tournament was held from 30 September to 9 October 2004.


2004 AFL Grand Final
The 2004 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Port Adelaide Football Club and the Brisbane Lions, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 2004. It was the 108th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for 2004 AFL season.


2004 AFL Grand Final
The match was won by Port Adelaide, marking that club's first AFL premiership victory. It was a closely fought match until midway through the third quarter, when Port Adelaide broke away and went on to win by 40 points. It was attended by 77,671 spectators.


2004 AFL Grand Final, Background
At the conclusion of the home and away season, Port Adelaide had finished first on the AFL ladder with 17 wins and 5 losses, winning the McClelland Trophy for the third successive year. At the start of the year, Port Adelaide's captain was ruckman Matthew Primus, however he was injured in Round 3 and missed the rest of the season, which meant that forward Warren Tredrea acted as captain. Port Adelaide beat Geelong by 55 points in the qualifying final at AAMI Stadium, which gave them a week off and a place in the preliminary final; Port Adelaide then defeated St Kilda by 6 points in a tight preliminary final to advance to the grand final.


2004 AFL Grand Final, Background
Brisbane finished second on the ladder with a record of 16 wins and 6 losses. Brisbane thrashed St Kilda by 80 points in the qualifying final at the Gabba, and then defeated Geelong by 9 points in the preliminary final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground – although Brisbane had earned a home preliminary final under the finals system in place, grounds contracts with the Melbourne Cricket Ground required one preliminary final to be staged at the ground, and as the lower-ranked team, Brisbane's was chosen.


2004 AFL Grand Final, Background
It was Brisbane's fourth consecutive Grand Final; and, having won the previous three, was attempting to become the first club to win four consecutive premierships since Collingwood in 1927–30. Port Adelaide was appearing in its first ever AFL Grand Final, having gained a reputation as finals chokers for its previous three seasons – when two minor premierships and a third place home and away finish both ended in lower positions after finals.


2004 AFL Grand Final, Background
The match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the capacity of which was reduced owing to construction work on the new northern grandstand ahead of the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The attendance was reduced due to construction works on one of the grandstands resulting in the attendance being 77,671, the lowest at a grand final attendance since 1991, when it was held at Waverley Park, and the lowest at the MCG since the 1948 Grand Final Replay.


2004 AFL Grand Final, Background
For the first time in VFL/AFL history, both competing grand finalists were clubs based outside the state of Victoria; and, as of 2021, it remains the only grand final featuring two expansion teams who joined the league after 1986 as part of national expansion. In an article for the Herald Sun titled "Our misery is interstate joy – Invaders on the M.C.G.”, Kevin Healey stated that “Victorian footy fans’ worst nightmare finally came true last night – two interstate teams will contest the A.F.L. Grand Final.”


2004 AFL Grand Final, Match summary
Jonathan Brown did not train with the Brisbane Lions players in their warm up but he did take to the field at the start of the game.


2004 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, First quarter
Leading up to the opening bounce and for large portions of the first quarter there were scuffles between players. After Brisbane missed a couple of early shots at goal, Port Adelaide controlled the majority of the quarter, and Josh Carr kicked the first goal on the run after winning a contest at half forward in the 8th minute. Two more goals soon followed, to Brendon Lade in the 12th minute and Warren Tredrea in the 16th minute to open a 19 point lead.


2004 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, First quarter
Brisbane fought back through Jason Akermanis, who kicked goals in the 20th and 23rd minutes from long set shots to narrow the margin back to 8. At this point, a vicious brawl broke out between Brisbane full forward Alistair Lynch and Port Adelaide defender Darryl Wakelin; immediately after, Lynch limped off the ground under the blood rule, but also having torn his quadriceps earlier in the quarter, and he played very little part in the rest of the game. Port Adelaide continued to dominate general play throughout the quarter, and with a late goal from a boundary throw-in to Byron Pickett in the 28th minute, Port Adelaide extended its quarter time advantage to a well-deserved 15 points, Port Adelaide 4.5 (29) lead Brisbane 2.2 (14).


2004 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Second quarter
The second quarter continued to be rugged and absorbing. General play started to favour the Lions, but the Lions fell down in the forward line, kicking 0.4 (4) from several chances in the first ten minutes of the quarter; while Port Adelaide capitalised on a reversed free kick against Jason Akermanis in Brisbane's forward line to rebound the length of the ground, finishing with a goal against the run of play to Pickett, extending the Port Adelaide advantage to 18 points.