Zee Sports to Telecast AFC U-20 Championship LIVE and Exclusive

New Delhi, October 27,2006: Zee Sports, the first Indian private sports channel and television partner to the AIFF, will produce and telecast the AFC Youth Championship from Kolkata and Bangalore starting October 29 to November 12, 2006. Two-world class production units will be working simultaneously in Kolkatta and Bangalore to produce the telecast for one of the most prestigious international football tournament ever to be held in India. In Kolkatta the matches will played at the Salt Lake Stadium and in Bangalore the matches will be played at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. Zee Sports is also the host broadcaster for the entire Asian region for the event and the feed will be going out to 25 Asian countries.
 
The AFC U-20 Championship is held every two years and is open to players under the age of 19. The future stars of Asian football will be playing in this tournament and most of them will in all likelihood represent their countries in the 2010 FIFA W.Cup. This tournament also acts as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The top four sides in the AFC Youth Championship will advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be played in Canada from June 30 to July 22 next year. The Korea Republic claimed the AFC Youth Championship crown in 2004 with a 2-0 win over China in Kuala Lumpur. Countries competing in this edition of championship are Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, China, UAE, Thailand, Australia, Japan, North Korea, Iran, Tajikistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Vietnam and hosts India.

India was joint winners in 1974 (Bangkok) with Iran after the Final ended in a 2-2 deadlock. But to repeat that performance, the hosts will have to pull up their socks as they are in difficult Group A with defending champions Korea Republic, Central Asian debutants Kyrgyzstan and Jordan. India will be looking up to East Bengal striker Vimal Pariyar, Churchill Brothers midfield duo of Ong Tshering Lepcha and Th. Nooba Singh to create the furore.

As hosts of Asia’s premier youth tournament India have prepared meticulously over the last year under veteran Uzbek coach Islam Akhmedov. In the run up to the preparations for this prestigious tournament the Indian colts have taken part in two major tournaments. The first was the inaugural AFC Challenge Cup in which they held their own against senior teams from Afghanistan (2-0), Chinese Taipei (1-1) and the Philippines (0-0) before going down to Nepal 3-0 in the quarterfinals. The other tournament was the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in Sri Lanka where they drew with Afghanistan (0-0) and Nepal (1-1) but defeated Bangladesh 2-1 to make the last four. They went down to Sri Lanka 7-6 on penalties and later lost the third-fourth-place playoff to Nepal 2-0.

Telecast Schedule AFC Youth Championship
 

S.No	Match	Date	Venue	Time
1	Korea Republic vs. Jordan	Oct 29	Salt Lake, Kolkata	15:30 onwards
2	India vs. Kyrgyzthan	Oct 29	SaltLake, Kolkata	18:30 onwards
3	China PR vs. Australia	Oct 30	Salt Lake, Kolkata	15:30 onwards
4	Thailand vs. UAE	Oct 30	Salt Lake, Kolkata	18:30 onwards
5	Jordan vs. India	Oct 31	SaltLake, Kolkata	15:30 onwards
6	Kyrgyzthan vs. Korea Rep	Oct 31	Salt Lake, Kolkata	18:30 onwards
7	Saudi Arabia vs Malaysia	Nov1	Sree Kanteerava, Bangalore	15:30 onwards
8	UAE vs China PR	Nov 1	Salt Lake, Kolkata	18:30 onwards
9	Korea Republic vs India	Nov 2	SaltLake, Kolkata	14:30 onwards
10	China PR vs Thailand	Nov 3	Salt Lake, Kolkata	14:30 onwards
11	Quarter Finals	Nov 6	Salt Lake, Kolkata	15:30 onwards
12	Quarter Finals	Nov 6	Salt Lake, Kolkata	18:30 onwards
13	Semi Finals	Nov 9	Salt Lake, Kolkata	15:30 onwards
14	Semi Finals	Nov 9	Salt Lake, Kolkata	17:00 onwards
15	Third Place Play Off	Nov 12	Salt Lake, Kolkata	15:30 onwards
16	Finals	Nov 12	Salt Lake, Kolkata	17:00 onwards

Catch all the action LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on Zee Sports