Football at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games was held in Hyderabad, India from 22 to 31 October 2003.[1] The football preliminaries commenced two days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games.
The football tournament was a men's-only event. Eight teams were set to participate, but only 7 played. Uzbekistan U-21 youth team were the gold medalists beating the host country India in the final.[2] The host country took silver, while Zimbabwe won bronze.
Initially, eight teams were set to participate in the football events - India, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, the U-21 youth teams of Uzbekistan and Malaysia, and the U-23 youth team of Malavan F.C. which is an Iranian football club that represented the country. However, Cameroon withdrew, and Ghana was decided to replace Cameroon.
Just before the preliminaries were to begin, Ghana pulled out of the football events, leaving only seven teams participating.
The football events were held in two stadiums - the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium, which was the main stadium of the Games; and the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. The football finals were held in the latter stadium.
Iran were represented by U-23 club side Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club. Cameroon were replaced by Zimbabwe.