LAHORE Iran has been granted hosting rights for the 36th AFC Under-19 Championship (Group-D) 2009 by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The junior competition to be held from Dec 8-16 was originally allocated to Lahore, Pakistan. However, AFC decided to look for another host due to the security concerns and reluctance of the other playing nations to visit Pakistan.

Iran Football Federation (IFF) and was successful in its bid after applying to host the tournament.

On opening day, Iran will take on Lebanon (2.00pm), followed by the Pakistan-Turkmenistan clash (4.30pm). Uzbekistan is the fifth team in the event. The top two teams and best third-placed team of the championship will join the 13 teams that have already qualified for next year's finals.

AFC has also re-opened the bidding process for hosting the final phase of the event. A key condition for the host member association is that its U-19 team must have qualified for the finals.

The successful bidder must also satisfy other conditions, including having two fully-furnished stadiums that adhere to AFC regulations, a minimum of four international-standard training fields and be willing to pay the costs of various other organisational expenses.

The AFC U-19 show, which is held every two years, also acts as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup at which Asia is given four berths.—Agencies