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IRNA - Pakistan-Iran clash will be recorded in November 2007 when the teams of the two nations will face each other after a lapse of 15 years, the Pakistan Football Federation said Sunday.

Pakistan is being placed in tough Qualifying Group of AFC U19 Youth Championship and besides Iran; Pakistan will take on India and Asian powerhouse Bahrain, Oman and Lebanon in Group-B from 1-11 November 2007.

Pakistan is taking part regularly in the tournament which was an annual event until 1978, the competition is now played on a biennial basis following the inauguration of the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1977, and is also restricted to under-19s. Only the players born on or after 1 January 1988 are eligible to appear in the event.

Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)'s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat is taking stern ambitious steps to build up a formidable team for the November show.

"National U18 Football Championship, from 3 - 11 August 2007, will provide us talented players and we are also hoping some budding footballers from National U15 event to stand against big teams of Asia," said Faisal.

Also Federal Minister for Environment, Faisal added: "It will be first time in my reign as PFF President that Pakistan will take on an Iranian team.

"Our players will learn a lot from Iran whose national team is one of the strongest teams in Asia, currently second in Asia behind Japan. Iran was at its peak once with 15th spot in FIFA World Rankings."
Pakistan's last international against them was seen in 10th Asian Cup Qualifier 1992 which was arranged at Calcutta's Salt Lake Stadium, said Faisal who himself will visit Indonesia for 14th Asian Football Cup 2007 to perform duty for AFC Disciplinary Committee.

Indonesia is one of the four nations to organize the AFC's howpiece event along with Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam from 7-29 July 2007.

The top-two teams from each of the seven groups of AFC U19 Championship advance to the finals along with the best third-placed team.

Saudi Arabia qualifies automatically for the Finals which will be eld in 2008. All the matches will be played in one centralized venue hosted by one country in the group.

Forty-two teams came out of pots and were divided into two zones, with each zone being divided further into six technical levels based on the AFC Youth Championship 2006 ranking.

The top-four finishers of AFC Youth Championship 2008 will advance to the 17th FIFA World Youth Championship 2009.

The groupings:
Group A: Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mongolia Group B: Pakistan, Iran, India, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon Group C: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Syria, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Bhutan
Group D: Jordan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Nepal, Palestine, Afghanistan Group E: Japan, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Maldives, Chinese Taipei.

Group F: DPR Korea, China, Malaysia, Macau, Singapore, Timor Leste Group G: Korea Republic, Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Guam 

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