Retro Fantasy Football

2002/03 Premier League fantasy football

Replay the 2002/03 Premier League as an old school fantasy football manager. Build a £100m squad from that season's 336 real players across 20 clubs, then play all 38 gameweeks and see how many points your 2002/03 XI can rack up. Thierry Henry is the season's most expensive pick at £11.5m.

Draft a squad from 2002/03

The 2002/03 title race

Manchester United won the 2002/03 title with 83 points, 5 points clear of Arsenal. They won 25, drew 8 and lost 5 of their 38 games, scoring 74 and conceding 34. West Ham, West Brom and Sunderland were relegated. Ruud van Nistelrooy took the scoring honours with 25 league goals.

2002/03 Premier League final table

#ClubPWDLGFGAGDPts
1Manchester United3825857434+4083
2Arsenal3823968542+4378
3Newcastle38216116348+1569
4Chelsea38191096838+3067
5Liverpool381810106141+2064
6Blackburn381612105243+960
7Everton38178134849-159
8Southampton381313124346-352
9Manchester City38156174754-751
10Tottenham Hotspur38148165162-1150
11Middlesbrough381310154844+449
12Charlton38147174556-1149
13Birmingham38139164149-848
14Fulham38139164150-948
15Leeds38145195857+147
16Aston Villa38129174247-545
17Bolton381014144151-1044
18West Ham381012164259-1742
19West Brom3868242965-3626
20Sunderland3847272165-4419

The bottom three were relegated. In the game, every result behind this table plays out as it really happened.

2002/03 top scorers

PlayerGoalsAssistsOur price
Ruud van NistelrooyManchester United254£10.5m
Thierry HenryArsenal2420£11.5m
James BeattieSouthampton232£10.0m
Mark VidukaLeeds203£9.0m
Michael OwenLiverpool195£9.5m
Alan ShearerNewcastle174£9.0m
Robert PirèsArsenal143£10.0m
Robbie KeaneTottenham Hotspur141£7.5m
Gianfranco ZolaChelsea147£8.5m
Harry KewellLeeds147£10.5m

2002/03 assist leaders

PlayerAssistsGoalsOur price
Thierry HenryArsenal2024£11.5m
Ryan GiggsManchester United108£9.5m
Dennis BergkampArsenal94£7.0m
Eyal BerkovicManchester City81£6.5m
David BeckhamManchester United86£9.0m
Thomas GravesenEverton81£6.5m
GeremiMiddlesbrough87£7.0m
Laurent RobertNewcastle75£7.5m
Jimmy Floyd HasselbainkChelsea711£8.0m
Gianfranco ZolaChelsea714£8.5m

League goals and assists only. Players who moved clubs mid-season are listed under the club they played most for.

2002/03 best-value XI

A 5-3-2 that costs £69.0m at our prices, leaving room on a £100m budget for four substitutes.

PlayerPriceest. ptsPer £1m
David JamesGoalkeeper · West Ham£4.5m11425.3
John Arne RiiseDefender · Liverpool£6.5m16224.9
Chris PowellDefender · Charlton£4.5m11124.7
Jeff KennaDefender · Birmingham£5.0m12324.6
Olof MellbergDefender · Aston Villa£5.0m12324.6
Jlloyd SamuelDefender · Aston Villa£5.0m12024.0
Fabrice FernandesMidfielder · Southampton£6.0m13522.5
Trevor SinclairMidfielder · West Ham£7.0m15722.4
Steed MalbranqueMidfielder · Fulham£7.0m15622.3
Jermain DefoeForward · West Ham£7.0m16423.4
Thierry HenryForward · Arsenal£11.5m26723.2

The best return on our prices, using an estimate of fantasy points per £1m from real league stats and our scoring: 3 points per appearance, plus goals (10 for goalkeepers, 6 for defenders, 5 for midfielders, 4 for forwards) and 3 per assist. Clean sheets were not recorded per player in this era, so defenders and goalkeepers are ranked mostly on appearances. Players need at least 1,710 league minutes (half a season), and no more than three come from one club.

Most expensive players by position

The premium picks a £100m budget forces you to choose between in 2002/03.

Goalkeepers

  1. Richard WrightEverton · 0 goals, 1 assist£6.0m
  2. Fabien BarthezManchester United · 0 goals, 0 assists£6.0m
  3. Carlo CudiciniChelsea · 0 goals, 0 assists£6.0m

Defenders

  1. GeremiMiddlesbrough · 7 goals, 8 assists£7.0m
  2. John Arne RiiseLiverpool · 6 goals, 5 assists£6.5m
  3. Mikaël SilvestreManchester United · 1 goal, 6 assists£6.0m

Midfielders

  1. Paul ScholesManchester United · 14 goals, 3 assists£11.5m
  2. Harry KewellLeeds · 14 goals, 7 assists£10.5m
  3. Robert PirèsArsenal · 14 goals, 3 assists£10.0m

Forwards

  1. Thierry HenryArsenal · 24 goals, 20 assists£11.5m
  2. Ruud van NistelrooyManchester United · 25 goals, 4 assists£10.5m
  3. James BeattieSouthampton · 23 goals, 2 assists£10.0m

2002/03 on Retro Fantasy Football

42 managers have finished a 2002/03 season on our leaderboard (as of October 2026). The best scores so far:

  1. 2,109 pts
  2. 2,035 pts
  3. 2,032 pts
  4. 2,027 pts
  5. 2,001 pts

Points follow our scoring rules. Think you can beat them?

Draft a squad from 2002/03