July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

LAHORE, July 16: The newly-introduced PFF Youth Cup will start in Quetta, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Bannu from Wednesday. The matches will also be played in Islamabad, Dir and Nowshera. The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has launched the event to analyze the performance of 26 youth coaches working under the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) AID-27 Financial Assistance Scheme.

The players born on or after Jan 1,1989 will be eligible to play.

PFF has 26 youth coaches to select and train U-13 to U-18 players as part of the PFF youth development programme.

The coaches have been asked to field a team in the event to be held in three phases. The first phase from July 18 to 27 will see the elimination of 16 teams, while 10 teams will enter the second phase in Faisalabad and Karachi.

Top two teams of each venue will earn berth in coming national event as well as a place in Karachi's final phase from Aug 19 to 21.

The 26 teams:

Lahore A, Lahore B, Sahiwal, Faisalabad A, Faisalabad B, Faisalabad C, Faisalabad D, Sargodha, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Karachi A, Karachi B, Karachi C, Karachi D, Jacobabad, Quetta A, Quetta B, Quetta C, Peshawar A, Peshawar B, Nowshera, Dir, Northern Areas, Bannu and FATA.