| Year: | 2003 |
| Other Titles: | 東アジアサッカー選手権2003 |
| Country: | Japan |
| Dates: | 22 February – 2 March 2003 (qualifiers) 4–10 December 2003 (finals) |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 4 |
| Cities: | 4 |
| Champion: | South Korea |
| Champion-Flagvar: | 1997 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second: | Japan |
| Third: | China |
| Fourth: | Hong Kong |
| Matches: | 16 |
| Goals: | 58 |
| Attendance: | 209530 |
| Top Scorer: | Tatsuhiko Kubo (2 goals) |
| Player: | Yoo Sang-chul |
| Goalkeeper: | Seigo Narazaki |
| Nextseason: | 2005 |
The 2003 East Asian Football Championship was the 1st edition of the East Asian Football Championship, an international football tournament for East Asian countries and territories organized by the EAFF. The qualifiers were held in February and March 2003 in Hong Kong and the final was held in December 2003 in Japan. South Korea won the inaugural championship.
China PR, South Korea, and Japan were the direct finalists. The fourth finalist spot was competed among Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia. Hong Kong won the qualifiers.
| Hong Kong |
|---|
| Hong Kong Stadium |
| Capacity: 40,000 |
| Tokyo | Saitama | Yokohama | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Stadium | Saitama Stadium 2002 | International Stadium | |
| Capacity: 57,363 | Capacity: 63,700 | Capacity: 72,327 | |
The Preliminary competition was hosted by Hong Kong. The winner of the group advanced to the finals. North Korea withdrew from the tournament.
All times are local (HKT,).
| width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Goals for" | GF | width=20 abbr="Goals against" | GA | width=20 abbr="Goal difference" | GD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | +26 | 12 | ||||||||||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | +0 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 16 | -14 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 22 | -22 | 0 |
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See main article: article and 2003 East Asian Football Championship finals squads.
All times are local (JST,).
| width=165 | Team | width=20 | Pld | width=20 | W | width=20 | D | width=20 | L | width=20 | GF | width=20 | GA | width=20 | GD | width=20 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | –1 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | –5 | 0 |
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| Rank | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 4 | ||
| 5 | ||
| 6 | ||
| 7 | ||
| 8 |