Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Ulaanbaatar: The inaugural participation of Mongolia in a major continental futsal competition shows that the game has come of age in the world’s 19th largest nation which has football-unfriendly weather as one of its many challenges to develop the game.
Despite crashing out of the East Asian region’s qualifying round held in Malaysia for the already-concluded AFC Futsal Championship 2012, the Mongolian Football Federation (MFF) is proud of its achievement, which it is looking forward to even improving thanks to assistance from FIFA and AFC and the new interest garnered among all sections of Mongolian society.
With new facilities and more importantly, an unbridled spirit to improve Mongolian futsal, more people, young and old, are taking up the game and professional interest and development are also perking up in the effort to keep the game alive and thriving in spite of the extreme seven-month harsh winter conditions in the mountainous nation.
To catch up with the Mongolian game, The-AFC.com has talked to Maya Ihamdorj, MFF Head of International Relations. Below is the full interview:
The-AFC.com: When did Mongolia decide to organise and develop futsal and why?
Ihamdorj: After its re-establishment in 1997, the MFF identified futsal development as one of the priorities and urgent needs and decided to start the organisation of futsal tournaments. The reason for this was seasonal character of football in Mongolia due to the harsh local winter and extreme climate condition. Winter in Mongolia lasts nearly seven months, therefore football was played only in summer time. It was extremely important to provide opportunity for players to play football on a regular basis without interruption during the winter season.
During the past period, futsal competitions have been always put on the MFF’s annual calendar plan. Now every year the MFF organises futsal competitions among schoolchildren at all age categories including girls. In addition to this, our association organises the MFF Futsal Cup among eight professional football clubs and the MFF City Cup among 12 amateur football clubs. This year the competitions were held between 23 January and 18 March.
*The-AFC.com***: **What important achievements did you achieve?
*Ihamdorj***: *Football is no longer a summer-only sport in Mongolia due to a newly established Futsal Hall inaugurated in 2011. This wonderful project was implemented with financial support of FIFA within the framework of FIFA Goal* Projects 3 and 4 for Mongolia. The new facility helps us to extend the football season and to provide home for thousands of football players in winter time. It is built next to the football field at the MFF Football Centre which is a wonderful combination for our players to play football on a continuous basis both in the winter and summer seasons. Thanks to this, the number of children who like to play football is increasing in Mongolia. Therefore, the development of futsal is becoming more and more important.
We are also pleased to acknowledge that for the first time our futsal national team participated in international tournaments. The national team played in the Preliminary Round for the AFC Futsal Championship 2012 hosted in Malaysia in November 2011.
*The-AFC.com***:** What are the main difficulties the MFF face towards the implementation of futsal development?
Ihamdorj: There were no appropriate indoor places to play futsal game before. We used to rent school halls and gyms to play football. However, space in school halls was limited to 9 x 18 metres. It is understandable that the field size was not standard and this caused a problem.
There was no clear understanding about how to play futsal. The futsal game regulation has not been introduced. Players, coaches and referees used to follow the regulations of normal field football and there was no separation between the futsal and football games. The same teams played both football and futsal and used to follow the same rules.
There were no futsal equipment such as futsal balls and boots. We used normal field football balls or size five. The coaches, players and referees also used to lack knowledge on the futsal game.
*The-AFC.com***: **How important are futsal educational courses for Mongolia?
Ihamdorj : The MFF understands the importance of educating our coaches and referees to help our players to play futsal according to the standards. We started to conduct local futsal coaching and refereeing courses in 1999. The last one was held in January 2012. Normally we conduct them before every futsal competition season. However, the local courses are very short in duration and the programme is very simple, targeted at the beginners.
Therefore, we decided to improve our educational programmes and to invite FIFA and AFC instructors to help us with educating our coaches and referees. Last year the AFC Futsal Coaching Course Level 1 was successfully conducted by AFC instructors in Ulaanbaatar on 8-15 October. Another AFC Coaching Course is scheduled for 2-7 October 2012 which will be followed by a FIFA Refereeing Course between 8 and 12 October, 2012.
*The-AFC.com***:** What are the MFF’s plans for futsal development?
Ihamdorj : Futsal as a new football game has been developed and played in Asia since recent times. At the current moment, futsal in Mongolia plays a supportive role in the form of training for national teams in winter time to be prepared for the upcoming competitions. But in the nearest future, we plan to split futsal from outdoor football and to establish separate futsal teams.
We believe that this goal is achievable due to the newly established indoor futsal hall and continuation of educational courses for our referees and coaches. Recently our association has completed its long-term strategic plan which includes also our vision for further futsal development. The main objectives are to establish futsal leagues at all age categories, prepare and educate more coaches and referees, host international competitions (national and club teams) and set up nationwide competitions.