2002–03 Cypriot First Division

Cypriot First Division
Season	2002–03
Champions	Omonia; (19th title)
Relegated	Nea Salamina; Aris; Alki
Champions League	Omonia (2nd qualifying round)
UEFA Cup	Anorthosis (qualifying round) ; APOEL (qualifying round; via Cypriot Cup)
Intertoto Cup	Ethnikos Achna (1st round)
Matches played	182
Goals scored	628 (3.45 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marios Neophytou; (33 goals)
	← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 Cypriot First Division was the 64th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. Omonia won their 19th title.

Format

Fourteen teams participated in the 2002–03 Cypriot First Division. All teams played against each other twice, once at their home and once away. The team with the most points at the end of the season crowned champions. The last three teams were relegated to the 2003–04 Cypriot Second Division.

The champions ensured their participation in the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League and the runners-up in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup.

The teams had to declare their interest to participate in the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup before the end of the championship. At the end of the championship, the higher placed teams among the interested ones participated in the Intertoto Cup (if they had not secured their participation in any other UEFA competition).

Point system

Teams received three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss.

Changes from previous season

Ethnikos Assia, Doxa Katokopias and Ermis Aradippou were relegated from previous season and played in the 2002–03 Cypriot Second Division. They were replaced by the first three teams of the 2001–02 Cypriot Second Division, Nea Salamina, Digenis Morphou and Aris Limassol.

Stadia and locations

APOEL
Omonia
Olympiakos

AEK, Alki

2002–03 Cypriot First Division

Team	Stadium
AEK	GSZ Stadium
AEL	Tsirion Stadium
AEP	Pafiako Stadium
Alki	GSZ Stadium
Anorthosis	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium
APOEL	GSP Stadium
Apollon	Tsirion Stadium
Aris	Tsirion Stadium
Digenis	Makario Stadium
Ethnikos	Dasaki Stadium
ENP	Paralimni Stadium
Nea Salamina	Ammochostos Stadium
Olympiakos	GSP Stadium
Omonia	GSP Stadium

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Omonia (C)	26	18	6	2	68	22	+46	60	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Anorthosis Famagusta	26	19	2	5	65	30	+35	59	Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round^[a]
3	APOEL	26	16	7	3	55	24	+31	55	Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round^[a]
4	Olympiakos Nicosia	26	16	4	6	56	29	+27	52	Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
5	AEL Limassol	26	11	6	9	56	45	+11	39
6	Ethnikos Achna	26	10	7	9	35	32	+3	37	Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
7	AEP Paphos	26	11	4	11	38	45	−7	37
8	AEK Larnaca	26	9	5	12	43	50	−7	32
9	Digenis Morphou	26	9	4	13	40	40	0	31
10	Enosis Neon Paralimni	26	8	7	11	39	40	−1	31
11	Apollon Limassol	26	8	7	11	42	46	−4	31
12	Nea Salamina (R)	26	6	11	9	39	40	−1	29	Relegation to Cypriot Second Division
13	Aris Limassol (R)	26	2	3	21	31	92	−61	9
14	Alki Larnaca (R)	26	1	3	22	21	93	−72	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal differences, 3) Goals for.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ The third team, APOEL, qualified to 2003–04 UEFA Cup because the second team, Anorthosis, already qualified to the same competition as the winner of 2002–03 Cypriot Cup.

Results

Home \ Away	AEK	AEL	AEP	ALK	ANR	APN	APL	ARS	DGN	ETH	ENP	NSL	OLM	OMN
AEK		3–1	2–1	1–0	1–5	0–5	3–0	4–0	4–1	2–0	1–1	4–2	1–1	0–2
AEL	4–2		6–2	7–0	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	1–2	2–3
AEP	1–0	0–0		2–1	4–2	0–2	2–1	4–2	3–1	2–0	0–0	1–3	0–3	2–4
Alki	2–2	1–3	0–1		1–7	1–4	0–1	1–7	2–0	0–0	1–5	2–3	3–4	0–1
Anorthosis	4–1	2–1	2–0	3–2		4–3	4–1	9–2	1–0	2–0	1–2	0–0	2–1	3–1
APOEL	2–1	4–0	2–0	3–0	1–0		0–0	3–1	2–3	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–0
Apollon	1–0	3–3	2–2	5–0	1–2	0–1		3–1	1–2	3–0	3–2	0–0	2–4	2–3
Aris	2–4	0–4	2–1	2–2	0–4	1–3	1–5		1–4	3–3	2–3	1–4	0–4	0–3
Digenis	1–1	2–2	0–1	8–0	1–2	1–3	0–0	2–0		3–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–2
Ethnikos	3–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	6–1		3–1	0–0	1–4	1–1
ENP	4–1	0–1	4–2	1–0	0–1	2–5	2–2	6–0	1–3	0–3		1–0	0–1	1–1
Nea Salamina	1–1	6–1	1–2	8–1	0–2	1–1	3–1	2–2	0–3	1–1	0–0		0–0	1–2
Olympiakos	2–1	3–2	3–4	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–3	6–0	1–0	2–0	3–2	4–0		0–1
Omonia	4–1	1–1	1–1	11–1	3–0	3–4	5–0	4–0	1–0	0–0	4–0	4–0	3–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References

^ "Cyprus - List of Topscorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 2015-06-25. Archived from the original on 2015-08-18. Retrieved 2015-08-05.

Sources

"2002/03 Cypriot First Division". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
1. DIVISION 2002/2003

[table_note_res_UCQR0.16554191297178-2] The third team, APOEL, qualified to 2003–04 UEFA Cup because the second team, Anorthosis, already qualified to the same competition as the winner of 2002–03 Cypriot Cup.

[first-1] "Cyprus - List of Topscorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 2015-06-25. Archived from the original on 2015-08-18. Retrieved 2015-08-05.

[1]

[a]

v t e Cypriot First Division
2024–25 clubs	AEK Larnaca AEL Limassol Anorthosis APOEL Apollon Aris ENP Ethnikos Karmiotissa Nea Salamina Omonia Omonia 29M Omonia Ar. Pafos
Stadiums	AEK Arena Alphamega Stadium Ammochostos Stadium Antonis Papadopoulos GSP GSZ Makario Tasos Markou Tsirio
Former clubs	AEK Kouklia AEP AEZ Akritas Alki Larnaca Alki Oroklini Anagennisi APEP APOP APOP Kinyras ASIL Atromitos Ayia Napa AYMA Çetinkaya Chalkanoras Digenis Doxa EPA Ethnikos Assia Ermis Evagoras Keravnos Olympiakos Onisilos Orfeas Othellos PAEEK Pezoporikos THOI Trust
Competition	List of foreign players
Associated competitions	Second Division Third Division STOK Elite Division Cypriot Cup Super Cup Cup for lower divisions Women's 1st Division Women's Cup Women's Super Cup UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
Seasons	1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e 2002–03 in Cypriot football
« 2001–02 2003–04 »
Domestic leagues	First Division Second Division Third Division Fourth Division
Domestic cups	Cypriot Cup
European competitions	Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup

v t e 2002–03 in European men's football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '02 '03 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '02 '03 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '02 '03 Faroe Islands '02 '03 Finland '02 '03 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '02 '03 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '02 '03 Latvia '02 '03 Lithuania '02 '03 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '02 '03 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia '02 '03 San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '02 '03 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '02 '03 Finland '02 '03 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '02 '03 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '02 '03 Latvia '02 '03 Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '02 '03 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '02 '03 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
League cups	England Finland '02 '03 France Germany Iceland '02 '03 Israel Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions	Champions League (Qualifying phase, Group stage, 2nd Group stage, knockout stage, Final) UEFA Cup (Qualifying round, First round, Second round, Final phase, Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup