The 2003

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

was the 13th season of top-tier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. The first round was postponed from April 11–12 to later dates due to heavy snowfall. The season finally started on April 18 and ended on November 9, 2003.

BATE Borisov FC BATE Borisov (russian: link=no, ФК БАТЭ Борисов, ''FK BATE Borisov'' ; be, ФК БАТЭ Барысаў, ''BATE Barysaw,'' ) is a professional Belarusian football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarusi ...

were the defending champions.

Team changes from 2002 season

Due to Premiere League expansion from 14 to 16 teams, one lowest placed team in 2002 Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk was replaced by three best teams from 2002 First League: Darida Minsk Raion, Naftan Novopolotsk and Lokomotiv Minsk. Torpedo-MAZ Minsk changed their name to Torpedo-SKA Minsk. Darida originally was registered in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

suburb

Zhdanovichi Zhdanovichy ( be, Ждановічы) or Zhdanovichi (russian: Ждановичи) may refer to the following places in Belarus: * Zhdanovichy, Minsk District, an agrotown in Minsk District, Minsk Region * Zhdanovichy, Stowbtsy District, a village ...

, while playing their games in Kuntsevschina district in Minsk. The team was renamed to Darida-TDZh Zhdanovichi (due to sponsorship from shopping center Zhdanovichi) for a few weeks in early 2003. However, after shopping center cancelled their sponsorship, team's name was changed back to Darida and official location became Minsk Raion, while team's office and stadium locations remained the same.

Overview

Gomel Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census). Etymology There are at least six narratives of the ori ...

won their 1st champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up

and 2003–04 Cup winners Shakhtyor Soligorsk qualified for UEFA Cup. Teams finished on the last two places ( Lokomotiv Minsk and Molodechno-2000) relegated to the First League.

Teams and venues

Table

Results

Belarusian clubs in European Cups

Top scorers

External links

RSSSF
{{2003–04 in European Football (UEFA) Belarusian Premier League seasons 1