LAHORE, Feb 27: The beautiful Paradise Island Resort in Maldives will host the draws ceremony of South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship 2008 on Thursday.

SAFF President Ganesh Thapa (Nepal) and General Secretary Sirajul Islam Bachchu plus Secretary Generals of the eight participating nations — Manzoor Hassain (Bangladesh), A.H.Abdul Ghafoor (Maldives), Lt. Col. (R) Ahmad Yar Khan Lodhi (Pakistan), Albert Colaco (India), Ugyen Wanchuk (Bhuthan), Mukthar Rustami (Afghanistan), Narendra Shrestha (Nepal) and Hafiz Marikar (Sri Lanka) — will attend the draw ceremony.

The national teams of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Pakistan will be in fray in the biennial soccer fiesta which is expected to explode into action in late May The first SAFF Championship was staged in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1997 and won by India.

The Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal was the backdrop to the SAARC Gold Cup in 1993 at Lahore and in 1995 at Colombo. The SAFF Championship went to Goa (1999), Dhaka (2003), Karachi (2005) and 2008 marked the first time that the SAFF’s showpiece event will be co-hosted by two nations - Sri Lanka, Maldives.

Pakistan will go in pursuit of their third soccer gold at Colombo’s Sugathadasa Stadium which will host the final

of SouthAsian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship in June.

The teams will be divided into two groups. Both the nations will host one semi-final. —Agencies