2002–03 Primera División A season explained

Competition:	Primera División A
Winners:	Invierno: Irapuato (3rd Title) Verano: León (1st title)
Season:	2002–2003
Promoted:	Irapuato
Relegated:	Gavilanes de Nuevo Laredo
League Topscorer:	Invierno: Héctor Carlos Álvarez (23) Verano: Julio César Yegros (9)
Prevseason:	2001–02
Nextseason:	2003–04

Primera División A (Méxican First A Division) is a Mexican football tournament. This season was composed of Invierno 2002 and Verano 2003. Irapuato was the winner of the promotion to First Division after winning León in the promotion playoff.

Changes for the 2002–03 season

• Due to the creation of Jaguares de Chiapas, Atlético Chiapas moved to Mérida and renamed Atlético Yucatán.^[1]
• Querétaro F.C. was promoted to First Division after bought the La Piedad franchise. To occupy the site left by Querétaro, the owners created a new Irapuato F.C. franchise.^[2]
• Toros Neza was bought by new owners, for that reason the team was relocated to Nuevo Laredo and its renamed Gavilanes de Nuevo Laredo.^[3]
• Potros Zitácuaro was relocated to Mexico City and renamed Potros DF, as an Atlante F.C. reserve team.^[4]
• Due to the lack of local economic support, Tampico Madero was sold, the new owners moved the team to La Piedad, to revive the local team that had lost its place in Liga MX.^[5]
• Gallos de Aguascalientes had to sell its franchise, because its stadium was demolished and the alternative presented by the club was not approved by the Femexfut. C.D. Guadalajara bought the team and refounded the C.D. Tapatío based in Guadalajara.^[6]
• Bachilleres was sold, the owners argue sports and administrative reasons. The new board relocated the team to Orizaba and renamed as Albinegros de Orizaba.^[7]
• Club León was relegated from First Division.
• Cihuatlán was promoted from Second Division.

Changes for the Verano 2003 tournament

• Potros DF was relocated to Tapachula and renamed to Jaguares de Tapachula.
• Albinegros de Orizaba was relocated to Villahermosa and renamed Lagartos de Tabasco.^[8]
• La Piedad was relocated to Celaya and renamed Celaya F.C.^[9]
• Gavilanes de Nuevo Laredo was disaffiliated by the FMF, for that reason, the team did not play in this tournament.^[10]

Stadiums and locations

Club	Stadium	Capacity	City
Acapulco	Unidad Deportiva Acapulco	13,000	Acapulco, Guerrero
Atlético Mexiquense	Nemesio Díez	35,000	Toluca, State of Mexico
Cihuatlán	El Llanito	5,000	Cihuatlán, Jalisco
Cobras Juárez	Olímpico Benito Juárez	22,000	Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
Correcaminos UAT	Marte R. Gómez	20,000	Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas
Cruz Azul Hidalgo	10 de Diciembre	17,000	Cruz Azul, Hidalgo
Durango	Francisco Zarco	15,000	Durango, Durango
Gavilanes	Unidad Deportiva Benito Juárez	6,500	Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
Irapuato	Sergio León Chávez	26,000	Irapuato, Guanajuato
La Piedad	Juan N. López	18,000	La Piedad, Michoacán
León	Nou Camp	35,000	León, Guanajuato
Nacional Tijuana	Cerro Colorado	12,000	Tijuana, Baja California
Oaxaca	Benito Juárez	15,000	Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Orizaba	Socum	7,000	Orizaba, Veracruz
Potros DF	Centro de Alto Rendimiento	1,000	Mexico City
RS Zacatecas	Francisco Villa	18,000	Zacatecas, Zacatecas
Tapatío	Jalisco	55,000	Guadalajara, Jalisco
Tigrillos	Francisco I. Madero	10,000	Saltillo, Coahuila
Yucatán	Carlos Iturralde	25,000	Mérida, Yucatán
Zacatepec	Agustín Coruco Díaz	18,000	Zacatepec, Morelos

Clausura 2003 new teams

Club	Stadium	Capacity	City
Celaya	Miguel Alemán Valdés	25,000	Celaya, Guanajuato
Lagartos de Tabasco	Olímpico de Villahermosa	12,000	Villahermosa, Tabasco
Jaguares de Tapachula	Olímpico de Tapachula	10,000	Tapachula, Chiapas

Invierno 2002

Group league tables

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Reclassification series

Second leg

Liguilla

• (p.t.) The team was classified by its best position in the general table

Quarter-finals

Second leg

Semi-finals

Second leg

Final

Second leg

Top scorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Héctor Carlos Álvarez	23	Zacatepec
Josias Ferreira	15	Irapuato
Carlos Fretes	15	RS Zacatecas
Cristian Ariel Morales	13	Oaxaca
Martín Vilallonga	12	León
Carlos Reyes	12	Nacional Tijuana

Verano 2003

Group league tables

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Reclassification series

Second leg

Liguilla

• (p.t.) The team was classified by its best position in the general table

Quarter-finals

Second leg

Semi-finals

Second leg

Final

Second leg

Top scorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Julio César Yegros	9	León
Héctor Carlos Álvarez	8	Zacatepec
Adelino Batista	7	Correcaminos UAT
Ulises Mendivil	5	Cihuatlán
Valtencir Gómes	5	Tigrillos

Relegation table

width=33	P	Team	width=33	Pts	width=33		width=60
1	align=left		66	37
2	align=left		65	37
3	align=left		188	113
4	align=left		184	113
5	align=left		57	37
6	align=left		115	75
7	align=left		173	113
8	align=left		164	113
9	align=left		153	113
10	align=left		147	113
11	align=left		145	113
12	align=left		141	113
13	align=left		141	113
14	align=left		137	113
15	align=left		137	113
16	align=left		135	113
17	align=left		134	113
18	align=left		133	113
19	align=left		82	75
	align=left		122	95

Promotion final

The promotion final faced Irapuato against León to determine the winner of the First Division Promotion. Irapuato was the winner. Before the celebration of the games a controversy was unleashed, because it was made believe that the board of the Club Leon had acquired the Irapuato. Subsequently, an armed command supposedly paid by the owners of the León occupied the Sergio León Chávez stadium, a few days later the fans recovered the building accompanied by police and military elements.^[11]

Second leg

Notes and References

1. Web site: Cetto . Franzelle . Arranca la Primera "A" (Parte II) . Mediotiempo . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 7 August 2002.
2. Web site: Preparan cambio de La Piedad a Querétaro . El Universal . Notimex . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 16 April 2002.
3. Web site: Cetto . Franzelle . ¿Qué pasa con los Gavilanes? . Mediotiempo . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 19 November 2002.
4. Web site: Carrillo . Luis . Viven Potros caso singular en Primera A . REFORMA . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 5 September 2002.
5. Web site: Cetto . Franzelle . Primera "A": Sorprenden dos equipos . Mediotiempo . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 20 August 2002.
6. Web site: Martínez . Sergio . Tercer tiempo / A revivir Gallos de Aguascalientes . La Jornada Aguascalientes . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 7 August 2011.
7. Web site: ORIZABA . Liga Premier FMF . 7 November 2018 . Spanish.
8. Web site: Mena . Arturo . Historia que se olvida (Parte 3) . La Orquesta . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 23 June 2017 . 8 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181108025634/http://laorquesta.mx/historia-se-olvida-parte-3-columna-arturo-mena-nefrox/ . dead .
9. Web site: Por problemas extracancha, TM se muda a La Piedad para el invierno 2002, ese torneo llegaron a la final y la perdieron con Irapuato. . Twitter: @History_LigaMX . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 11 April 2017.
10. Web site: Vázquez . Luis . Clubes desafiliados por la Liga MX . AS México . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 8 June 2017.
11. Web site: Violenta recuperación del estadio Sergio León Chávez en Irapuato . La Jornada . Notimex . 7 November 2018 . Spanish . 19 June 2003.