ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: Pakistan on Saturday staged its first ever women's soccer match to mark the FIFA Fair Play Day which officials said would help boost women's sports in this Muslim country.

The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) organised the match.

However, Pakistan's conservative society does not encourage women to feature in field sports, strictly forbidding them to wear shorts and t-shirts, and the Islamists government in North West Frontier Province last year banned male coaches from training females.

But the Islamic republic of nearly 150 million people has women's cricket and hockey teams, and Pakistan sent one female athlete to each of the last three Olympic Games.

Fourteen-year-old Rubab Raza was country's first female swimmer to dive in an Olympic pool at the Athens Games last month.

But the country has no women's soccer team.

Some 45 players from all over the country were called in for the match.

At the playing field Saturday the Pakistan Greens and Pakistan Whites said they enjoyed the experience.

"I have played hockey at national level and now I have played football. I never thought I could be among the first ever batch of women to play football," 23-year-old Misbah Rasheed, from Sheikhupura, told AFP.

"I watched women's football in the Olympics and liked world champions Germany's style," Rasheed said.

Another player, Saadia Sheikh, who played active cricket, said it was a proud moment for Pakistani women.

"It's a proud moment for not only myself but for the women's community in Pakistan, times have changed and we have shown this by playing on FIFA Day," said Saadia.

Soccer in Pakistan is a neglected sport despite huge grants by FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The country is ranked 168th in FIFA world ranking and has never qualified for the Olympics or the World Cup.-AFP