2002–03 Divizia A

The 2002–03 Divizia A was the eighty-fifth season of Divizia A, the top-level football league of Romania. Season began in August 2002 and ended in May 2003. Rapid București became champions on 24 May 2003.

Divizia A

Season	2002–03
Champions	Rapid București[1]
Relegated	Sportul Studențesc UTA Arad
Champions League	Rapid București
UEFA Cup	Steaua București Dinamo București
Intertoto Cup	Gloria Bistrița Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț
Matches played	240
Goals scored	627 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Claudiu Răducanu (21)
Biggest home win	Ceahlăul 6–0 UTA UTA 6–0 Bistrița
Biggest away win	Farul 0–5 Național
Highest scoring	Sportul 5–6 Dinamo
Longest winning run	Rapid (6)
Longest unbeaten run	FC U, Steaua (9)
Longest losing run	Politehnica (9)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Team changes

Relegated

The teams that were relegated to Divizia B at the end of the previous season:

• Petrolul Ploiești
• UM Timișoara

Promoted

The teams that were promoted from Divizia B at the start of the season:

• Poli AEK Timișoara
• UTA Arad

Venues

Poli AEK Timișoara	Steaua București	FC U Craiova	Rapid București
Dan Păltinișanu	Steaua	Ion Oblemenco	Giulești-Valentin Stănescu
Capacity: 32,972	Capacity: 28,365	Capacity: 25,252	Capacity: 19,100
FCM Bacău	Farul Constanța	Dinamo București	Argeș Pitești
Dumitru Sechelariu	Gheorghe Hagi	Dinamo	Nicolae Dobrin
Capacity: 17,500	Capacity: 15,520	Capacity: 15,032	Capacity: 15,000
Sportul Studențesc	Bucharest Argeș Astra Bacău Brașov Ceahlăul Craiova Farul Gloria Oțelul Poli AEK UTA Bucharest teams Dinamo Național Rapid Sportul Steaua 2002–03 Divizia A (Romania) Dinamo Național Rapid Sportul Steaua Location of Bucharest teams.		Național București
Regie			Cotroceni
Capacity: 15,000			Capacity: 14,542
Oțelul Galați			Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț
Oțelul			Ceahlăul
Capacity: 13,500			Capacity: 12,500
FC Brașov	UTA Arad	Gloria Bistrița	Astra Ploiești
Tineretului	UTA	Gloria	Astra
Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 7,800	Capacity: 7,000

Personnel and kits

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
Argeș Pitești	Ion Moldovan	Cristian Bălașa	Erreà	Pic
Astra Ploiești	Florin Marin	Daniel Petroesc	Lotto	Petrom, InterAgro
Brașov	Marius Lăcătuș	Cosmin Bodea	Joma	Prescon
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Viorel Hizo	Radu Lefter	Ancada	Rifil, Romalfa
Dinamo București	Ioan Andone	Giani Kiriță	Lotto	Cosmorom
Farul Constanța	Marin Ion	Cristian Șchiopu	Erreà	Argus
FC U Craiova	Sorin Cârțu	Pavel Badea	Erreà	SIF Oltenia
FCM Bacău	Ilie Dumitrescu	Florin Prunea	Legea	Sonoma
Gloria Bistrița	Remus Vlad	Vasile Popa	Umbro	Darimex
Național București	Walter Zenga	Petre Marin	Lotto	Astra Asigurări, LG Corporation
Oțelul Galați	Costel Orac	Cătălin Tofan	Lotto	Ispat Sidex
Poli AEK Timișoara	Gheorghe Mulțescu	Florin Constantinovici	Erreà	ARGIROM
Rapid București	Mircea Rednic	Adrian Iencsi	Erreà	LaDorna
Sportul Studențesc	Cezar Zamfir	Laurențiu Diniță	Lotto	Omniasig
Steaua București	Victor Pițurcă	Mirel Rădoi	Nike	—
UTA Arad	Constantin Pană	Marius Popescu	Erreà	—

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rapid București (C)	30	20	3	7	59	25	+34	63	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Steaua București	30	16	8	6	42	27	+15	56	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round
3	Gloria Bistrița	30	13	6	11	32	33	−1	45[lower-alpha 1]	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
4	Brașov	30	13	6	11	37	33	+4	45[lower-alpha 1]
5	Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	30	12	8	10	43	33	+10	44[lower-alpha 2]	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
6	Dinamo București	30	13	5	12	49	46	+3	44[lower-alpha 2]	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round
7	FC U Craiova	30	12	8	10	36	37	−1	44[lower-alpha 2]
8	Național București	30	12	7	11	41	36	+5	43
9	Astra Ploiești	30	13	3	14	42	42	0	42
10	Farul Constanța	30	12	4	14	35	47	−12	40
11	Argeș Pitești	30	11	5	14	37	41	−4	38[lower-alpha 3]
12	Bacău	30	10	8	12	31	31	0	38[lower-alpha 3]
13	Oțelul Galați	30	9	9	12	25	37	−12	36	Qualification to relegation play-offs
14	Politehnica AEK Timișoara	30	11	2	17	37	52	−15	35
15	Sportul Studențesc București (R)	30	9	4	17	44	55	−11	31	Relegation to Divizia B
16	UTA Arad (R)	30	8	6	16	37	52	−15	30

Source: LT (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. GLO 3-1 BRA; BRA 0-1 GLO
2. CH 3-2 D; D 5-0 CH; CR 3-1 D; D 1-0 CR; CR 0-0 CH; CH 3-0 CR
3. ARG 3-1 BAC; BAC 2-3 ARG

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Argeș Pitești	14	12	15	14	15	14	13	12	12	12	10	11	9	11	14	14	12	13	12	12	13	11	12	11	11	11	10	12	10	11
Astra Ploiești	13	8	10	13	14	15	16	16	14	16	15	16	15	15	13	10	11	9	7	9	8	10	7	7	9	8	7	8	7	9
Bacău	15	14	13	12	11	13	15	15	16	15	14	13	11	12	9	9	7	6	6	8	10	12	10	10	10	10	12	11	12	12
Brașov	7	10	6	10	12	12	10	9	7	5	6	5	5	6	7	5	6	7	8	6	5	5	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	4
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	16	7	9	9	9	10	9	7	10	10	12	15	12	13	10	12	10	8	11	11	9	6	6	6	6	9	9	9	8	5
FC U Craiova	2	3	1	1	4	6	6	11	11	13	11	12	10	9	11	11	13	15	15	13	11	7	8	8	7	6	5	7	9	7
Dinamo București	1	6	7	8	6	7	8	8	6	3	2	4	2	2	2	2	3	4	5	5	7	9	9	9	8	7	6	6	5	6
Farul Constanța	8	13	11	11	7	9	11	10	8	9	9	10	14	10	15	15	14	11	10	7	6	8	11	12	12	12	11	10	11	10
Gloria Bistrița	9	5	8	4	8	5	4	2	2	2	5	6	7	8	5	6	5	5	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	8	5	4	3
Oțelul Galați	3	9	5	6	5	3	3	4	9	8	8	7	8	7	8	8	8	10	9	10	12	13	13	14	13	13	13	13	13	13
Național București	5	2	3	5	3	2	2	3	3	4	3	2	3	3	4	4	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	3	4	4	4	6	8
Rapid București	6	1	4	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sportul Studențesc	11	15	12	7	10	11	12	13	13	11	13	9	13	14	12	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	13	15	15	15	15	15	15
Steaua București	10	11	14	15	13	8	7	5	4	6	7	8	6	4	3	3	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Politehnica AEK Timișoara	4	4	2	3	2	4	5	6	5	7	4	3	4	5	6	7	9	12	14	15	15	15	14	15	14	14	14	14	14	14
UTA Arad	12	16	16	16	16	16	14	14	15	14	16	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Source: LT (in Romanian)

Results

Home \ Away	ARG	AST	BAC	BRA	CEA	FCU	DIN	FAR	GBI	OȚE	NAT	RAP	SPO	STE	TIM	UTA
Argeș Pitești	—	1–0	3–1	0–0	2–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–0	2–2	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–3	5–1	1–0
Astra Ploiești	2–1	—	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	4–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	3–2	0–2	3–2	0–1	2–1	1–1
Bacău	2–3	2–0	—	4–0	0–0	2–3	3–1	1–2	0–0	0–1	2–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0
Brașov	2–0	1–1	0–1	—	1–0	3–1	2–2	2–0	0–1	3–2	0–1	2–0	3–2	0–0	2–0	2–1
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	0–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	—	3–0	3–2	0–0	3–0	4–0	3–1	1–2	2–2	1–0	3–2	6–0
FC U Craiova	0–0	3–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	—	3–1	0–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–3	2–0	3–1	1–0	1–1
Dinamo București	3–0	0–3	1–1	1–0	5–0	1–0	—	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	3–1	2–4	2–1	5–0
Farul Constanța	2–1	1–4	0–3	0–1	4–2	2–2	0–1	—	0–0	0–1	0–5	2–1	1–0	2–1	3–1	1–0
Gloria Bistrița	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–0	4–0	1–0	1–3	—	1–0	3–0	0–3	3–0	0–0	2–0	4–1
Oțelul Galați	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–2	1–0	—	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	2–1
Național București	3–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–3	1–2	0–2	4–1	0–0	0–0	—	1–1	5–1	0–0	1–0	2–1
Rapid București	1–0	4–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–2	3–1	5–1	3–1	5–2	2–0	—	0–1	1–2	3–0	3–0
Sportul Studențesc	4–2	3–0	0–3	1–2	0–1	3–1	5–6	0–3	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–2	—	1–2	3–1	0–0
Steaua București	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–2	2–1	4–3	—	0–1	5–2
Politehnica AEK Timișoara	1–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–3	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–3	3–2	1–3	—	3–4
UTA Arad	2–2	2–1	3–1	3–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	6–0	3–0	1–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	0–1	—

Source: LT (in Romanian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion / Relegation Play-off

The teams placed on the 13th and 14th place in the Divizia A faced the 2nd placed teams from both groups of the Divizia B. Politehnica AEK Timișoara and FC Oradea won the relegation play-offs.[2]

Even though Oțelul Galați lost the relegation play-off against FC Oradea, they kept their place in the Divizia A because Petrolul Ploiești, the club that won the Divizia B, Seria I, sold its promotion place to Oțelul Galați and merged with Astra Ploiești, the other team from the city of Ploiești, which finished on the 9th position this season.[3]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Politehnica AEK Timișoara	8–4	Gloria Buzău	5–3	3–1
Oțelul Galați	3–4	Oradea	2–1	1–3

14 June 2003 Leg 1	Politehnica AEK Timișoara	5–3	Gloria Buzău	Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu
	Zanc  28' Silvășan  54' Bătrânu  59' Prodan  71' Oprea  90+3'		Gheorghe  13' Petre  26' Apostol  68'

14 June 2003 Leg 1	Oțelul Galați	2–1	Oradea	Stadionul Oțelul
	Cornea  28' Guriță  67'		Vrăjitoarea  45+1'(p)

18 June 2003 Leg 2	Gloria Buzău	1–3	Politehnica AEK Timișoara	Stadionul Municipal
	Gheorghe  90+3'		Constantinovici  13' Buia  48' Zanc  69'

18 June 2003 Leg 2	Oradea	3–1	Oțelul Galați	Stadionul Iuliu Bodola
	Vrăjitoarea  71',  81',  90+1'		Tănase  28'

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Politehnica Timișoara	324,000	40,000	6,000	21,600	n/a^1
2	Universitatea Craiova	280,000	40,000	4,000	18,666	n/a^†
3	Rapid București	157,000	20,000	3,000	10,466	n/a^†
4	Steaua București	142,250	24,000	250	9,483	n/a^†
5	UTA Arad	124,000	12,000	4,000	8,266	n/a^1
6	FCM Bacău	120,000	18,000	2,000	8,000	n/a^†
7	Oțelul Galați	94,000	12,000	3,000	6,266	n/a^†
8	Dinamo București	87,000	15,000	2,000	5,800	n/a^†
9	Farul Constanța	74,000	8,000	2,000	4,933	n/a^†
10	FC Brașov	71,500	12,000	1,000	4,766	n/a^†
11	Argeș Pitești	64,000	12,000	300	4,266	n/a^†
12	Național București	60,100	12,000	900	4,006	n/a^2
13	Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	52,750	10,000	250	3,516	n/a^†
14	Gloria Bistrița	48,100	12,000	300	3,206	n/a^†
15	Astra Ploiești	44,000	10,000	500	2,933	n/a^†
16	Sportul Studențesc București	35,150	8,000	150	2,510	n/a^†
	League total	1,777,850	40,000	150	7,438	n/a^†

Updated to games played on 2 June 2019
Source: League matches: Divizia A 2002/2003
Notes:
1: Played last season in Divizia B.
2: Național București played 1 match out of their stadium.

Top goalscorers

Pos	Player	Club	Goals
1	Claudiu Răducanu	Steaua București	21
2	Ionel Dănciulescu	Dinamo București	16
3	Laurențiu Diniță	Sportul Studențesc	15
4	Cosmin Bărcăuan	Dinamo București	13
5	Sergiu Radu	Național București	12

References

1. 2002–03 Divizia A at RomanianSoccer
2. 2002–03 Divizia A at RSSSF
3. "De Petrolul s-a ales praful!" (in Romanian). ProSport. Retrieved 26 May 2009.