2002–03 AJ Auxerre season

During the 2002–03 French football season, AJ Auxerre competed in Ligue 1.

AJ Auxerre

2002–03 season
Chairman	Jean-Claude Hamel
Manager	Guy Roux
Ligue 1	6th
Coupe de France	Winners
Coupe de la Ligue	Round of 16
Champions League	First group stage
UEFA Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Djibril Cisse (14) All: Djibril Cisse (21)
Average home league attendance	10,974[1]
Away colours

Before Auxerre's game against Arsenal, October 2, 2002

Season summary

Auxerre missed out on only a second-ever league title by four points, finishing in sixth to qualify for the UEFA Cup. They were also knocked out of the Champions League in the first group stage, finishing behind Arsenal and Dortmund, and the UEFA Cup in the fourth round by Liverpool. Compensation came in the form of winning the Coupe de France.

First team squad

Squad at end of season[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FRA Fabien Cool 2 DF  FRA Johan Radet 3 DF  FRA Jean-Sébastien Jaurès 4 DF  CMR Jean-Alain Boumsong 5 DF  FRA Philippe Mexès 6 MF  TOG Kuami Agboh 7 MF  SEN Amdy Faye 8 MF  FRA Yann Lachuer 9 FW  FRA Djibril Cissé 10 MF  FIN Teemu Tainio 11 MF  SEN Khalilou Fadiga 13 DF   SUI Stéphane Grichting 14 MF  FRA David Vandenbossche 16 GK  FRA Sébastien Hamel 18 MF  FRA Lionel Mathis 19 MF  FRA Nicolas Marin 20 MF  FRA Arnaud Gonzalez 21 FW  ZIM Benjani Mwaruwari 23 FW  FRA Olivier Kapo 24 MF  FRA Pierre Deblock

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 DF  FRA David Recorbet 26 DF  FRA Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé 27 MF  FRA Pantxi Sirieix 28 FW  FRA Romain Poyet 29 DF  FRA Joseph Assati 30 GK  FRA Baptiste Chabert 31 MF  FRA Hassan Yebda 32 MF  CIV Kanga Akalé 33 MF  FRA Jean-Pascal Mignot 34 FW  FRA Benoit Leroy 35 DF  FRA Richard Suriano 37 MF  FRA Ferdinand Bitangane 38 MF  FRA Sebastien Cochet 39 FW  FRA Rafik Djebbour 40 MF  FRA Kevin Lejeune 41 MF  FRA Baptiste Llop 42 MF  FRA Julien Petitjean 43 DF  FRA Guillaume Legacheur 44 GK  FRA Christophe Langlois

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  FRA Frédéric Jay (on loan to Rennes) 17 FW  POR Hélder Esteves (on to Créteil)

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 FW  FRA Pedro Kamata (on loan to Clermont Foot)

Competitions

Ligue 1

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
4	Bordeaux	38	18	10	10	57	36	+21	64	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
5	Sochaux	38	17	13	8	46	31	+15	64
6	Auxerre	38	18	10	10	38	29	+9	64
7	Guingamp	38	19	5	14	59	46	+13	62	Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round
8	Lens	38	14	15	9	43	31	+12	57	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round

Source: Ligue 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Matches

–

Coupe de France

31 May 2003 Final	Paris Saint-Germain	1–2	Auxerre	Saint-Denis
	Hugo Leal  21'		Cissé  76' Boumsong  89'	Stadium: Stade de France Attendance: 78,000 Referee: Bertrand Layec

Champions League

Third qualifying round

13 August 2002 First leg	Boavista	0–1	Auxerre	Porto, Portugal
22:00		Report	Cissé  71'	Stadium: Estádio do Bessa Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

28 August 2002 Second leg	Auxerre	0–0 (1–0 agg.)	Boavista	Auxerre, France
20:30		Report		Stadium: Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps Attendance: 14,500 Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)

First group stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Arsenal	6	3	1	2	9	4	+5	10	Advance to second group stage
2	Borussia Dortmund	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10
3	Auxerre	6	2	1	3	4	7	−3	7	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	PSV Eindhoven	6	1	3	2	5	8	−3	6

Source: RSSSF

17 September 2002 1	Auxerre	0–0	PSV Eindhoven	Auxerre, France
20:45		Report		Stadium: Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps Attendance: 11,902 Referee: Alfredo Trentalange (Italy)

25 September 2002 2	Borussia Dortmund	2–1	Auxerre	Dortmund, Germany
20:45	Koller  6' Amoroso  78'	Report	Benjani  83'	Stadium: Westfalenstadion Attendance: 46,500 Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway)

2 October 2002 3	Auxerre	0–1	Arsenal	Auxerre, France
20:45		Report	Gilberto Silva  48'	Stadium: Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps Attendance: 19,454 Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

22 October 2002 4	Arsenal	1–2	Auxerre	London, England
20:45	Kanu  53'	Report	Kapo  8' Fadiga  27'	Stadium: Highbury Attendance: 35,302 Referee: Domenico Messina (Italy)

30 October 2002 5	PSV Eindhoven	3–0	Auxerre	Eindhoven, Netherlands
20:45	Bruggink  34' Rommedahl  48' Robben  64'	Report		Stadium: Philips Stadion Attendance: 27,500 Referee: Knud Erik Fisker (Denmark)

12 November 2002 6	Auxerre	1–0	Borussia Dortmund	Auxerre, France
20:45	Benjani  76'	Report		Stadium: Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps Attendance: 16,959 Referee: Sorin Corpordean (Romania)

UEFA Cup

Round of 32

28 November 2002 First leg	Real Betis	1–0	Auxerre	Seville, Spain
21:30	Alfonso  10' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Estadio Manuel Ruíz de Lopera Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Helmut Fleischer (Germany)

12 December 2002 Second leg	Auxerre	2–0 (2–1 agg.)	Real Betis	Auxerre, France
19:30	Tainio  19' Lachuer  48'	Report		Stadium: Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Stuart Dougal (Scotland)

Round of 16

20 February 2003 First leg	Auxerre	0–1	Liverpool	Auxerre, France
20:45		Report	Hyypiä  72'	Stadium: Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps Attendance: 20,452 Referee: Massimo De Santis (Italy)

27 February 2003 Second leg	Liverpool	2–0 (3–0 agg.)	Auxerre	Liverpool, England
21:05	Owen  66' Murphy  72'	Report		Stadium: Anfield Attendance: 34,252 Referee: Antonio López Nieto (Spain)

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee	Source

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee	Source

Loans in

Start	Pos.	Name	From	Expiry	Source

Loans out

Start	Pos.	Name	To	Expiry	Source

References

1. "Ligue 1 2002/2003 » Attendance » Home matches". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
2. "FootballSquads - Auxerre - 2002/03". Archived from the original on 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2013-06-23.