Only in 1978 have Bangladesh hosted more teams in a single tournament when 32 nations visited Dhaka for the 28th Asian Youth Football Championship.

The Asian Football Con-federation (AFC) has designed the tournament to give a boost to the emerging nations of the continent who starve for international exposure. Many thinks that AFC's launching of this tournament -- to be held every two years -- at a cost of about 2.5 million dollars is not only a giant step toward development of the game for the minnows but also a perfect stage for the host country to bring back the popularity of the game.

But it would also be a scope for developing countries like India and hosts Bangladesh to enrich their showcase with silverware of a tournament of this magnitude, where 14 teams from AFC's list of emerging nations join the South Asian football powerhouses.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter and AFC President Mohammad Bin Hammam's presence at the inaugural ceremony would also give the event a facelift.

Although Bangladesh and India have won trophies in regional intervals, central Asia's Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan -- the former Soviet Union states -- have yet to participate in the finals of a continental event despite been impressive since their joining AFC. One of the two are billed as favourites to reach the April 16 final provided they can eliminate hosts Bangladesh in the earlier stages.

Palestine, one of the top FIFA ranked teams (second in after India), will look to build on their recent success although they have been trying to rebuild the whole nation from the ruins of war. For five years, their federation failed to organise a league and as a result, the will have to rely heavily on foreign-based footballers. Their 1-0 upset win over Singapore in the 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers would be a headache for the opposition coaches.

Wartorn Cambodia are not even certain of the strength of a young side but showed enough courage to utter the words that they are eyeing a place at least among the last eight.

The tournament will also see world's lowest ranked team Guam, for whom only participation would be a great satisfaction like Bhutan, Brunei or Macau. Guam's exposure to international football had been severely restricted to the South pacific Games for many years. Guam, who have yet to win a single international in last ten years, have only recently started participating in AFC tournaments.

There is no group of death in the first stage but for Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan playing in the same group and the only question that can be raised is about Bangladesh's getting a raw deal in the fixture. Unlike any other tournaments, where the home side usually get easier draws in the knock-out stages, Bangladesh are expected to be pitted against Tajikistan and Palestine -- two of the three top-ranked teams of the meet -- and Kyrgyzstan.

Among the eight teams based in Chittagong, tournament's top-ranked India -- the only team to bring their youth squad -- will face very lowly opponents.