The 2003 season of the African Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Étoile Sportive du Sahel in two-legged final victory against Julius Berger (now Bridge Boys F.C.). Étoile Sportive du Sahel never had the opportunity to defend their title as the African Cup Winners' Cup was merged with CAF Cup the following season into CAF Confederation Cup. Thirty-six sides entered the competition. It was the first season when the CAF started to take disciplinary actions against teams withdrawing from the competition by banning them for three years. These actions were taken against Masvingo United from Zimbabwe who withdrew before the first leg of the preliminary round and JS Pobè from Benin who failed to show for their first leg match of the first round.Tanzania was not represented by JK