2003 Belarusian First League

Belarusian First League
Season2003
ChampionsLokomotiv Vitebsk
PromotedLokomotiv Vitebsk
MTZ-RIPO Minsk
RelegatedNeman Mosty
Pinsk-900
Matches played240
Goals scored613 (2.55 per match)
← 2002
2004 →

2003 Belarusian First League was the 13th season of 2nd level football championship in Belarus. It started in April and ended in November 2003.

Team changes from 2002 season

Three top teams of last season (Darida Minsk Raion, Naftan Novopolotsk and Lokomotiv Minsk) were promoted to Belarusian Premier League. Due to the expansion of Premier League from 14 to 16 clubs, the promoted teams were replaced by only one team that finished at the bottom of 2002 Belarusian Premier League table (Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk).

One team that finished at the bottom of 2002 season table (Osipovichi) relegated to the Second League. They were replaced by three best teams of 2002 Second League (MTZ-RIPO Minsk, Pinsk-900 and Vertikal Kalinkovichi).

Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk shortened their name to Lokomotiv Vitebsk before the start of the season.

Teams and locations

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Location of teams in 2003 Belarusian First League
Team Location Position in 2002
Lokomotiv Vitebsk Premier League, 14
Vedrich-97 Rechitsa 4
Granit Mikashevichi 5
Lida Lida 6
ZLiN Gomel 7
Kommunalnik Slonim 8
Dinamo-Juni Minsk 9
Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev 10
Neman Mosty 11
Dnepr-DUSSh-1 Rogachev 12
Khimik Svetlogorsk 13
Smorgon Smorgon 14
Bereza Bereza 15
MTZ-RIPO Minsk Second League, 1
Pinsk-900 Pinsk Second League, 2
Vertikal Kalinkovichi Second League, 3

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Lokomotiv Vitebsk (P) 30 22 4 4 57 21 +36 70[a] Promotion to Belarusian Premier League
2 MTZ-RIPO Minsk (P) 30 22 4 4 63 15 +48 70[a]
3 Smorgon 30 17 7 6 47 20 +27 58
4 Vedrich-97 Rechitsa 30 16 5 9 52 29 +23 53
5 Granit Mikashevichi 30 14 9 7 34 27 +7 51
6 ZLiN Gomel 30 14 6 10 47 38 +9 48
7 Khimik Svetlogorsk 30 13 7 10 42 39 +3 46
8 Lida 30 13 4 13 45 35 +10 43
9 Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev 30 11 9 10 37 37 0 42[b]
10 Kommunalnik Slonim 30 11 9 10 37 39 −2 42[b]
11 Dnepr-DUSSh-1 Rogachev 30 8 5 17 32 52 −20 29
12 Dinamo-Juni Minsk 30 7 6 17 27 60 −33 27[c]
13 Vertikal Kalinkovichi 30 7 6 17 22 44 −22 27[c]
14 Bereza 30 6 8 16 17 44 −27 26
15 Neman Mosty (R) 30 5 5 20 26 54 −28 20 Relegation to Belarusian Second League
16 Pinsk-900 (R) 30 5 4 21 28 59 −31 19
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd matches won; 3rd head-to-head (points, matches won, goal difference, goals scored); 4th goal difference; 5th goals scored
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Lokomotiv Vitebsk placed above MTZ-RIPO Minsk after winning additional 1st place playoff match (2–1 at the neutral venue in Baranovichi).
  2. ^ a b Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev placed above Kommunalnik Slonim by better head-to-head record (1–1, 2–1).
  3. ^ a b Dinamo-Juni Minsk placed above Vertikal Kalinkovichi by better head-to-head record (3–1, 2–1).

Top goalscorers

Rank Goalscorer Team Goals
1 Belarus Oleg Kuzmenok MTZ-RIPO Minsk 25
2 Belarus Aleksandr Savelyev ZLiN Gomel 20
3 Ukraine Dmytro Kolodin Lokomotiv Vitebsk 17
4 Belarus Sergey Ulezlo Khimik Svetlogorsk 15
5 Belarus Mihail Eramchuk Vedrich-97 Rechitsa 13

See also