2002–03 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season

During the 2002–03 English football season, Blackburn Rovers competed in the FA Premier League.

Season summary
After a season of consolidation in the Premiership the previous season (capped with victory in the League Cup), Blackburn Rovers enjoyed their best season since winning the title in 1995, finishing in sixth place and qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the second year in a row. While their UEFA Cup campaign was not especially impressive (only beating CSKA Sofia on away goals before being knocked out by eventual runners-up Celtic), their continued progress under Graeme Souness gave the fans much hope for the following season. Blackburn also embarked on another strong run in the League Cup for the second successive year, although they failed to defend their title after suffering a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Manchester United in the semi-finals. The star man for Blackburn this season was American goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who was named as the goalkeeper in the PFA Team of the Year.

First-team squad

 * Squad at end of season

Appearances and goals
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred out during the season

Starting 11

 * Considering starts in all competitions


 * GK: #1, 🇺🇸 Brad Friedel, 47
 * RB: #2, 🇦🇺 Lucas Neill, 45
 * CB: #14, 🇸🇪 Nils-Eric Johansson, 27 (#20, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Thompson, has 32 starts)
 * CB: #21, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Taylor, 38
 * LB: #6, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Craig Short, 29
 * RM: #7, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Garry Flitcroft, 39
 * CM: #8, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Dunn, 33
 * CM: #3, 🇹🇷 Tugay Kerimoğlu, 42
 * LM: #11, 🇮🇪 Damien Duff, 31
 * CF: #19, Dwight Yorke, 35
 * CF: #9, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andy Cole, 40

In

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andy Todd - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Charlton Athletic, 22 May, £750,000 (rising to £1,000,000 depending on appearances)
 * 🇩🇪 Sebastian Pelzer - 🇩🇪 1. FC Kaiserslautern II, 25 June, undisclosed
 * Dwight Yorke - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Manchester United, 26 July, £2,000,000 (rising to £2,600,000 depending on appearances and team performance)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Thompson - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Coventry City, 29 August, £1,500,000 (rising to £2,500,000 depending on player and team performances)
 * 🇹🇷 Hakan Şükür - unattached (last played for 🇮🇹 Parma), 4 December, free
 * 🇸🇰 Vratislav Greško - 🇮🇹 Parma, 11 February, four-month loan

Out

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mark Hughes - released, 13 May
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Simon Grayson - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Blackpool, 19 July, free
 * 🇹🇷 Hakan Ünsal - 🇹🇷 Galatasaray, 27 August, £650,000
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matt Jansen - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Coventry City, 18 February, four-month loan
 * 🇳🇴 Stig Inge Bjørnebye - retired, 11 March
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Miller - retired, 7 April
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 James Thomas - released