Flourishing Future Mongolia

Interview with Batmunkh of Flourishing Future Mongolia: "I believe that Mongolian football clubs are doing their best within their possibilities."

Chris KL Lau

Across the great plains of Mongolia, in a land more associated with sports like horseback riding and wrestling, the beautiful game has emerged as the most popular team sport across the vast nation.

Mongolian professional club sides are now slowly and steadily making strides in the continental competitions with Athletic 220 FC set to play against Eastern, Lee Man and Tainan City in the AFC Cup 2021 edition.

In terms of the national team, Mongolia have been making an impact in the Asian World Cup qualifiers with Mongolia achieving a first round qualifying victory by defeating Brunei Darussalam 2-0. This was followed up with a remarkable second-round 1-0 home win over Myanmar. Mongolians love football and men and women of all ages still manage to adapt to the extreme weather conditions to eke out time and space both indoors and outdoors to play their favourite game

In an exclusive interview with Batmunkh, Executive Director of Flourishing Future Mongolia, we discuss the state and development of football in Mongolia.

Mongolia has so much footballing talent, how come the national team and Mongolian clubs do not do better? Is it due to finances and resources?

I believe that Mongolian football clubs are doing their best within their possibilities. However, there are a lot of things which are a barrier for the development of the game. For instance, the players' salaries are very low. Thus they work and during their spare time they practise football and train. Also Mongolia has 4 seasons, thus during winter time, there are less possibilities to practise due to the extreme weather."

What is the standard of the Mongolian professional league and how popular is the game with Mongolian fans?

Usually, in Mongolia, there are 2 football types, including outdoor football and futsal. However, there are only one or two types of standard courts and rental costs are very high. Moreover, there are many football fans here. Football is third of the list in popular sports. However, the younger generations are very into football, in terms of playing and watching football matches."

The weather can be harsh in Mongolia especially in winter. How do footballers train in the winter months?

Mongolian weather is very harsh; especially during the winter and autumn seasons, it is almost impossible to play football because it is very cold. Thus the only possibility is to practise indoors."

What is Flourishing Future? How does it help those in the community?

Flourishing Futures has been working for over 10 years by supporting youth participation in sport and through this opportunity, we try to help and shape the younger generations. We also encourage and help them to spend their time by being healthy. We organize football for beginners and basketball classes and training sessions. Through this we support their futures and try to help them to find their passion and future goals. Finally, we organize matches in our community."

Thank you!

For more on Mongolian Soccer

Watch Mongolia v Brunei Darussalam on YouTube

© Chris Lau & Soccerphile.com