LAHORE, Oct 30: Pakistan has been placed in tough Asian Football Championship Under-17 group but has been bracketed with relatively easier teams in the AFC under-20 preliminary rounds. Both the teams will be held next year.

In the Under-17 contest, Pakistan has been slated with strong Turkmenistan and Tajikistan teams in Group Six, as the Asian countries have been divided into 11 groups.

In the Under-20, Pakistan is in Group Five along with Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The AFC has advised all the countries to finalize their programmes for both the preliminary rounds on their own and send it to them by Nov 30.

The final round of the Under-17 will be held in United Arab Emirates from Sept 6 to 22 while the final round of the Under-20 is scheduled to be  held at Qatar from Oct 15 to 31.

The AFC has divided the countries into following groups:

Under-17:

Group-1: Bahrain, Kuwait, Palestine, Yemen.

Group-2: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria.

Group-3: Qatar, Iraq, Jordan.

Group-4: India, Maldives, Bhutan.

Group-5: Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan.

Group-6: Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan.

Group-7: Myanmar, Hong Kong, Singapore.

Group-8: South Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines.

Group-9: China, North Korea, Guam, Mongolia.

Group-10: Vietnam, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei.

Group-11: Japan, Malaysia, Brunei, Macau.

Under-20:

Group-1: Iran, Oman, Syria, Yemen.

Group-2: Iraq, UAE, Lebanon, Palestine.

Group-3: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan, Jordan.

Group-4: India, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bhutan.

Group-5: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka.

Group-6: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Nepal.

Group-7: Japan, Laos, China Taipei, Mongolia.

Group-8: South Korea, Brunei, North Korea, Guam.

Group-9: Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines.

Group-10: Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Macau.

Group-11: China, Singapore, Myanmar.