The
1903 German football championship is the first to be sanctioned by the
Deutscher Fußballbund (DFB). Until the formation of the
Bundesliga in 1963, the championship format is based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues.
The inaugural
World Light Heavyweight Champion is
Jack Root of Bohemia following his ten-round victory over
Charles "Kid" McCoy at Detroit on 22 April. Root's title is short-lived as he loses on 4 July to
George Gardiner at Fort Erie, Ontario. Gardner wins by a technical knockout after 12 rounds. On 25 November, Gardner loses the title to Fitzsimmons after 20 rounds at San Francisco. Fitzsimmons retains the title until 1905.
Montreal HC and
Ottawa HC tie for first place in the
Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL)
regular season with 6–2 records. The teams play off for the CAHL championship and Stanley Cup. Ottawa defeats Montreal 9–1 in a two-game, total-goals series to win its first Stanley Cup title.
Ottawa HC defeats
Rat Portage Thistles two games to nil in another cup challenge.
The Paris-Madrid Trail is run on 24 May with a scheduled distance of 1014 km. It is a disastrous event which causes at least eight deaths including those of drivers
Marcel Renault and Claude Barrow. The race is stopped by the authorities at Bordeaux. It is in retrospect sometimes referred to as the VIII Grand Prix de l'ACF.[6] Fernand Gabriel (France) is the first to reach Bordeaux in his
Mors.
Road racing is banned as a result and the legacy of the event is the introduction of circuits, the first being opened at
Le Mans in 1906 for the inaugural
French Grand Prix, organised by the
Automobile Club de France (ACF).
Gordon Bennett Cup
Fourth running of the
Gordon Bennett Cup takes place in Ireland due to road racing being illegal in Great Britain, the scheduled host. The location is the roads around
Athy,
County Kildare, and the winner is
Camille Jenatzy (Belgium) driving a
Mercedes
It is at the 1903 Gordon Bennett cup that international racing colours are formally adopted with Italy taking red, Germany white, France blue and Great Britain taking its
British racing green (BRG) for the first time. The British choice of green is partly due to the event being held in Ireland, which at the time is part of the UK, and to precedent as the winning Napier of 1902 had been painted olive green.
Ardennes Circuit
Second running of the
Ardennes Circuit race around
Bastogne is won by Pierre de Crawhez driving a
Panhard-Levassor 70 hp in a time of 5:52:07. The total distance is 512.05 km (85.34 km x 6 laps).