The regionalised draw for the preliminary round of the Spanish cup took place on 25th July, with ties to be played over two legs on 27th August and 10th September. Some 34 teams enter the competition at this stage, made up of 17 of the top teams from second division B and the 17 third division group winners (second placed teams where group champions were B sides of teams in higher divisions). The winners go on to participate in the first round together with first and second division A sides. (26.07.03)

Preliminary round first leg

The first leg matches of the Copa del Rey took place on 27th August (except where stated), with return legs due two weeks later. Results were as follows:

Cerceda 0 - Barakaldo 0
Caudal 2 - Real Unión 2
Velarde 0 - Gimnástica Torrelavega 1
Zalla 1 - Pontevedra 2
Lanzarote 2 - Logroñes 0
Hellín 0 - San Sebastian de los Reyes 3
Fraga 1 - Mirandés 3
Conquense 0 - Burgos 0
Zamora 1 - Alcorcón 1 (26/8)
Palencia 1 - Cultural Leonesa 1
Badalona 1 - Sabadell 3
Benidorm 1 - Alicante 2
Villafranca 0 - Lorca 0 (26/8)
Granada "74" 0 - Cacereño 0 (26/8)
Villanueva 0 - Ceuta 1 (26/8)
Cerro Reyes 2 - Universidad Las Palmas 1
Vecindario 1 - Extremadura 0

Preliminary round second leg

The second leg matches took place on 10th September (except where stated). Matches were as follows (qualifying teams in bold):

Barakaldo 2 - Cerceda 0
Real Unión 3 - Caudal 1
Gimnástica Torrelavega 2 - Velarde 0
Pontevedra 4 - Zalla 0
Logroñes 3 - Lanzarote 2
San Sebastian de los Reyes 2 - Hellín 0
Mirandés 1 - Fraga 0
Burgos 1 - Conquense 2
Alcorcón 1 - Zamora 4
Cultural Leonesa 2 - Palencia 1 (11/9)
Sabadell 0 - Badalona 2
Alicante 1 - Benidorm 1
Lorca 3 - Villafranca 0
Cacereño 1 - Granada "74" 0 (11/9)
Ceuta 1 - Villanueva 1
Universidad Las Palmas 0 - Cerro Reyes 1
Extremadura 2 - Vecindario 1 (11/9)

A few surprises already, with three of the sides involved in last season's second division play-offs, Universidad Las Palmas, Burgos and Logroñes, all eliminated. Logroñes sacked manager Juan Señor as a result. The draw for the first round proper takes place on 16th September, with first and second division sides all entering at the stage. Matches take place over one leg at the ground of the lower division side on or around 8th October. The date has already thrown up a problem though, as international matches take place the following weekend and many of the top clubs will be missing their star players. (12.09.03)