The U19 event provides launching pad for soccer stars of tomorrow. Often, some of the biggest names in the Pakistan football make their first mark in this competition before getting their national colors. -Photo by APP

LAHORE Pakistan Football Federation's (PFF) President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has approved Lahore as host of 20th National U19 Soccer Championship.

The team of Lahore District Football Association (LDFA) will face stiff competition from fifteen junior teams from across the country when 12-day event kicks off on Saturday, 3 October 2009 at various grounds of Lahore

Hayat, who chaired the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary Committee meet on 29 September, has asked the PFF Operation Wing to take the event seriously and discourage over-age players as it is part of Youth Development Program in order to tap fresh talent for future PFF assignments. The players born on or after 1 January 1991 will be eligible to play in coming event which will conclude on 14 October.

The 20th edition of National U19 Championship 2009 will also help PFF in forming a strong Pakistan team which will take on tough opponents Iran, Lebanon, Maldives, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in 36th AFC U19 Championship (Group-D) December 8-18, 2009.

Balochistan, along with Karachi and Railways, have the honor of winning the National Youth Soccer title three times while Army and Dhaka clinched the gold twice. It may be recalled that Karachi and Dhaka, now capital of Bangladesh, were once joint winners in 1966. The teams winning the event once are Sargodha, Multan, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan Steel and Faisalabad.

Balochistan look in great shape to win their fourth title as their main rivals Karachi and Railways are no more in the event. The financial problems forced Pakistan Railways Sports Board not to enter the team while Karachis players are representing Sindh team.

The U19 event provides launching pad for soccer stars of tomorrow. Often, some of the biggest names in the Pakistan football make their first mark in this competition before getting their national colors.

 These include Chaudhry Asghar, Yunus Changezi (1964), Ali Nawaz (1966), Akbar Raisani, Muhammad Ali Shah (1972), Naushad Baloch, Mukhtar Ali (1979), Sharafat Ali, Khalid Mehmood, Jamshed Rana (1981), Mateen Akhter, Fayyaz Siddiqui (1982), Haji Sattar, Fidaur Rehman, Tariq Hussain, Abdul Wahid (1985), Qazi Ashfaq, Zahid Luqman, Imtiaz Butt, Nauman Ibrahim (1990), Haroon Yusuf, Hafeez Malik (1993), Babar Mehmood, Shaukat Ali (1994), Muhammad Ahmed, Abbas Ali, Imran Hussain (2004).

National Youth Football Championship Roll of Honor  
1964 Dhaka
1966 Dhaka / Karachi  
1968 Karachi  
1972 Sargodha  
1979 Balochistan White  
1980 Balochistan Red  
1981 Multan  
1982 Pakistan Railways 
1983 Pakistan Railways  
1984 Rawalpindi  
1985 Pakistan Railways  
1986 Pakistan Steel  
1987 Karachi South  
1990 Faisalabad  
1993 Punjab Reds  
1994 Pakistan Army  
2004 Pakistan Army  
2005 Balochistan  
2007 Faisalabad Yellow