Sri Lanka will host the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup in February next year.
The tournament, featuring the leading second-tier teams in Asia, will be held from February 3-14. The stadium venues will be decided at a later date.
India hosted the last tournament in 2008 with the hosts winning and qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2011 finals. A similar incentive awaits the 2010 winners.
Qualifiers for the 2010 final tournament are India, Korea DPR, Tajikistan (Automatic Qualifiers), Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka (Winners of Group A,B,C and D respectively) and Bangladesh (Best Runner-up)
The last time Sri Lanka staged a major regional event was last year, when they co-hosted the SAFF Championship with Maldives. Maldives won the tournament defeating India in the final.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 3 October 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.