Pakistani organisers said they hope to promote football, and also signal that security has improved in militancy-plagued Pakistan.

Ronaldinho, along with seven other football stars, will play two exhibition ties in Karachi and Lahore this weekend.

Mumbai City FC ended the Indian Super League on a high by beating defending champions Atletico de Kolkata 3-2

Nicolas Anelka, the 36-year-old journeyman forward has been the player-coach at Mumbai City, who crashed out of the second edition of the eight-team Indian Super League after a 1-1 home draw against lowly Kerala Blasters on Thursday.

The hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the Indian Super League were all but shattered for hosts Mumbai City FC after they played out a 1-1 draw against visitors Kerala Blasters FC.

Mumbai City FC's marque-player-cum-manager Nicolas Anelka admitted it was diffcult for him a play and manage the side.

Mumbai come into the match with a 5-1 victory over NorthEast United FC on Wednesday where star striker Sunil Chhetri scored the first hat-trick by an Indian in the tournament.

Mumbai City FC and FC Pune City face-off in their first match of the Indian Super League at the Shree Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex in Pune.

Nicolas Anelka's first stint in a dual role of marquee player-cum-manager was in 2012 with Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua for a year. This will be his second year with Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League.

Nicolas Anelka, who scored twice and provided two assists for the Mumbai franchise in the inaugural season, was capped 69 times for France and had nearly 500 club appearances at the top level.