2003–04 UEFA Cup

A total of 145 teams from 51 of 52 UEFA member associations participated in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup (the exception being Azerbaijan which was suspended). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:

• Associations 1–6 and 16–21 each had three teams qualify.
• Associations 7–8 each had four teams qualify.
• Associations 9–15 and 22–52 (except Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino) each had two teams qualify.
• Liechtenstein (as they organized only a domestic cup and no domestic league), Andorra and San Marino had only one team that qualified.

Moreover, the following teams also qualified for the competition:

• 24 teams eliminated from the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the UEFA Cup.
• 3 teams advancing from the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup were transferred to the UEFA Cup.
• 3 associations had one additional team qualify via the UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking.

For the 2003–04 UEFA Cup, the associations were allocated places according to their 2002 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 1997–98 to 2001–02.{{cite web|url=https://kassiesa.net/uefa/data/method2/crank2002.html |title=UEFA Country Ranking 2002 |access-date=4 February 2025 |first=Bert |last=Kassies |publisher=UEFA European Cup Football}}

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

• {{small|(UCL)}} – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
• {{small|(IC)}} – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Intertoto Cup
• {{small|(FP)}} – Additional berth via Fair Play ranking

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The following was the access list for this season.{{cite web|url=https://kassiesa.net/uefa/history/index2003.html |title=Year 2003/2004 |access-date=4 February 2025 |first=Bert |last=Kassies |publisher=UEFA European Cup Football}}

Due to the UEFA Cup title holder (Porto) qualifying for the Champions League via their domestic league, the following changes to the access list were made:

• The cup winners of association 15 and 16 (Austria and Switzerland) entered the UEFA Cup first round instead of the qualifying round.

Due to the suspension of Azerbaijan, the following changes to the access list were made:

• The cup winners of association 17 and 18 (Norway and Israel) entered the UEFA Cup first round instead of the qualifying round.

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:{{Cite web |url=https://kassiesa.net/uefa/history/qual2003.html |title=Qualification for European Cup Football 2003/2004 |access-date=2019-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220015415/http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/history/qual2003.html |archive-date=2011-12-20 |url-status=dead }}

• CW: Cup winners
• CR: Cup runners-up
• LC: League Cup winners
• Nth: League position
• PO: End-of-season European competition play-offs (winners or position)
• IC: Intertoto Cup
• FP: Fair play
• CL: Relegated from the Champions League
• GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
• Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round

;Notes

{{Cnote2 Begin}}

{{Cnote2|Note AZE|Azerbaijan (AZE): Clubs from Azerbaijan were not admitted to UEFA competitions as no domestic competitions took place in 2002–03 season and AFFA was suspended by UEFA as a result of ongoing conflict between the clubs and federation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesa/azer03.html|title=Azerbaijan 2002/03|website=www.rsssf.org}}}}

{{Cnote2 End}}

The schedule of the competition was as follows.{{cite web |url=https://kassiesa.net/uefa/history/dates2003.html |title=UEFA European Football Calendar 2003/2004 |publisher=Bert Kassies |access-date=31 January 2025}}

{{main|2003–04 UEFA Cup qualifying round}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup qualifying round|QR}}

{{main|2003–04 UEFA Cup first round}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup first round|R1}}

{{main|2003–04 UEFA Cup second round}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup second round|R2}}

{{main|2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase}}

In the final phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. {{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase|Format}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase|Bracket}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase|R3}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase|R4}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase|QF}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase|SF}}

{{#lst:2003–04 UEFA Cup final phase|F}}

• 2003–04 UEFA Champions League
• 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120115050040/http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2003/matches/all/index.html 2003–04 All matches UEFA Cup – season at UEFA website]
• [https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec200304.html Results at RSSSF.com]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/uefacup200304 Details at guardian.co.uk]
• All scorers 2003–04 UEFA Cup according to (excluding preliminary round) according to [https://web.archive.org/web/20111109221202/http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2003/statistics/round=1718/players/type=topscorers/index.html protocols UEFA] + all scorers [https://archive.today/20130630195659/http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2003/statistics/round=1717/players/type=topscorers/index.html preliminary round]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100625234529/http://en.archive.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/history/season=2003/intro.html 2003/04 UEFA Cup – results and line-ups (archive)]
• [https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/19070.pdf Regulations of UEFA Cup 2003-04]

{{UEFA Europa League seasons}}

{{2003–04 in European Football (UEFA)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2003-04 UEFA Cup}}

Category:UEFA Europa League seasons

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