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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will take on India in the 37th AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers slated to run from November 1-12.
Pakistan's other opponents in Group C will be Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
The Pakistan-India clash will be the first in age-limit competition since the 11th South Asian Games 2010.
Pakistan will make attempt to earn a slot in Turkey's 19th World U-20 Cup 2013 by finishing in the top four of the 37th AFC U-19 Championship.
“Thirty-nine Asian nations had expressed their interest in taking part in the coming AFC Championship qualifiers,” Pakistan Football Federation's President Faisal Saleh Hayat told APP on Tuesday,
Out of these 39 countries, eleven have also come forward to host the qualifying competitions which include Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Nepal, Qatar, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan and the UAE. The six teams that withdrew are Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Philippines and Sri Lanka while Brunei team is suspended by FIFA.
As many as 23 countries, including the defending champions, have to qualify in the six confederations Youth Championships.
“The host country automatically qualifies. In the seventeen tournaments held so far, Argentina is the most successful team with six titles, followed by Brazil with four. Portugal lifted trophy twice, while Ghana, Germany, Spain and formerly existing nations Russia and Yugoslavia have won once each.”
“The AFC U-19 Championship was set up to provide another tier of competitive international football in Asia with the aim of developing young playing talent in the region. Pakistan comprises of fine footballers at grass-root level and players who represented the U-13, U-14, U-16 and U-17 teams from 2003 to 2009 will soon be part of the teams.
“We put up a fine display in the 2007 edition, drawing 0-0 with Bahrain and restricted Oman to a 1-0 score line,” Faisal said.
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Group A: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives
Group B: Bahrain, Jordan, Tajikistan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bhutan
Group C: Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan
Group D: UAE, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon
Group E: S. Republic, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Guam, Chinese Taipei
Group F: DPR Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos
Group G: Australia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Macau
