On Tuesday, 15 July, representatives of the four associations (China PR, Hong Kong-China, Korea Rep., Japan) qualified for the East Asian Football Championship 2003 Final Competition met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to coordinate the new dates for the competition that was postponed on Thursday, 15 May, due to concerns over SARS.

As a result of the discussions, an agreement was reached to reschedule the competition on December 4 (Thursday), 7 (Sunday) and 10 (Wednesday) of this year. The outline of the competition (as of 30 July 2003) is as follows.

Outline of the Competition
Title : East Asian Football Championship 2003 Final Competition
Organiser : East Asian Football Federation(EAFF)
Host Association : Japan Football Association
Venue : Japan (stadium to be announced)
Participating Associations : China PR, Hong Kong-China, Korea Rep., Japan
System of the Competition : 4-team round-robin (each team plays 3 matches)