2003 East Asian Football Championship
The first edition of the East Asia Football Championship, officially East Asian Football Championship 2003 was held in Japan from 17 to 10 December 2003. Four teams from East Asia have qualified for the final round. Of these, South Korea, China and Japan were already set. In the qualification carried out in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong hosts prevailed. East Asia Champion 2003, South Korea was. North Korea withdrew his participation back.
In qualifying the five worst teams joined played in a group stage against each other, the winner is qualified for the finals. The East Asia champion was determined by group games.
The winners premium was U.S. $ 500,000. The runner-up received U.S. $ 300,000, the third $ 200,000 and the Fourth U.S. $ 150,000.
Venue
Hosted the East Asian Championship 2003 was Japan, which a year ago already fought out the Soccer World Cup 2002. The tournament took place in three different locations:
- On December 4 in Tokyo at the Olympic Stadium (2 games)
- On December 7th in Saitama Saitama Stadium ( 2 games)
- On December 10 in Kanagawa in Nissan Stadium (2 games)
Hosted the qualifying matches from February 22 to March 2, 2003 was the Hong Kong Stadium in Hong Kong.