LAHORE The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have approved Lahores Punjab Stadium for the 10 matches of the 36th AFC Under-19 Championship (Group-D) from December 8-16 2009. Pakistan U19 team will take on tough nations Iran, Lebanon, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the event, in which players born on or after 1 January 1991 will be eligible to appear. Inaugurated on March 3 2003, Punjab Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium on Ferozpur Road, and a stone-throw distance away from FIFA Football House. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium is among the most prestigious centers in South Asia. Having an approximate seating capacity of 8,000, Punjab Stadium has the honour of staging final test of first-ever Pak-India series on June 18 2005. Situated near Kalma Chowk, Punjab Stadium also hosted Pakistan-Jordan clash on October 11, 2006 in 14th Asian Cup Qualifiers (Group-C) and Pakistan-Singapore (February 14, 2007) Pakistan-Kuwait (March 28, 2007), Pakistan-Bahrain (May 16, 2007) clash in 29th Olympic Games Football Tournament Qualifiers (Group-A) and World Cup qualifier against Iraq. It also hosted 15 matches of third AFC Presidents Cup 2007. Close to Punjab Stadium is the FIFA Football House, Gaddafi Cricket Stadium, National Hockey Stadium, a basketball pitch, cycling velodrome, Al-Hamra Hall, all of these in a single huge complex - named after the first Pakistani governor in Pakistans history Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar. The AFC U-19 Championship will be the second international event on Punjab Stadium. An anxious wait of an international event for two years at Lahore will be over on December 8 when the PFF will stage an event of the AFC for the second time at Punjab stadia, after third AFC President Cup. The city did arrange first SAFF Championship (formerly SAARC Gold Cup) in 1993 at Railway Stadium. Before that, fifth Quaid-i-Azam International tourney was played in 1987 but that was invitational event, also at Garhi Shahues famous Stadium. The Punjab stadium is one of the 10 stadiums approved by AFC for biennial U-19 show. Others being Kathmandus Dashrath Stadium and Halchowk Stadium, Al Ains Al Qatara Stadium, Bangkoks Rajamangala Stadium and Thai Army Sports Stadium, Soreangs Si Jalak Harupat Stadium, Chinas Zibo Sports Center Stadium and Linzi Stadium, Arbils Francouse Al-Hareeri Stadium. The winner and runners-up of each group qualify for Chinas finals in 2010. One best third-placed team from the West Zone and one best third-placed team from the East also qualify for the Finals. The top-four finishers of Chinas final phase will earn spot in the FIFA World Youth Championship 2011 at Colombia.