The tournament had five stages. The first four stages were played as mini-league round-robin tournaments, except for third stage in region IV, which was played as a knockout stage. The final stage featured two knockout rounds and a final four-team group stage to determine the two promoted teams.
This year twenty six teams qualified for the Etapa Regional (Regional Stage): these are the twenty six champions from each department (including two from Lima (the capital) - Perú was politically divided in twenty four Departments and one Constitutional Province.
All these teams were divided into eight groups by geographical proximity; then each winner qualified for the Etapa Nacional (National Stage). Those eight teams played, again by geographical proximity, home and away matches, in a knock-out tournament. The winner of the final was promoted to the First Division.
Departmental Stage
The following list shows the teams that qualified for the Regional Stage.
The National Stage started in November. The winner of the National Stage was promoted to the 2003 Torneo Descentralizado. On every stage qualification is decided by points, no matter the goal difference. Third match played in neutral ground.