Football on the Steppes

I was lucky enough to visit the faraway country of Mongolia this summer. As a football fan who is interested in some of the more bizarre and interesting aspects of the international game I obviously looked up some of the Mongolian's results over the past few years. It's not an impressive record.

Despite being a satellite of the Soviet Union for 70 years football in Mongolia never really took off. As I was reliably informed whilst in Mongolia there are only four sports that are played in the country: Horse Riding, Archery, Wrestling and Drinking (not always in that order). There is another sport that involves ankle bones that is more popular than football.

We are often told that Football is a Global Game. Mongolia is one country that seems untouched by the long arms of FIFA and superstar footballers like David Beckham. The climate of the country may give a reason for that. Sweltering hot summers and freezing cold winters isn't really the type of weather that lends itself to football, the poor Maldivians had to play a World Cup Qualifier in -20C a few years ago. Far from what they are used to.

The Mongolians entered their first World Cup in 2002 and their only successess have been a few wins against Guam in the East Asian Federation Cup (mentioned in a previous blog entry). They really do have a long way to go before challenging the likes of Korea and Japan (never mind qualifying for a World Cup).

Their federation is currently run by a man who goes by the name of Ganbold Buyannemekh, who apparently played for Dynamo Kiev reserves whilst at university in the old Soviet Union. He is the Mongolians most celebrated player, but he will have to perform miracles if he ever wants to see Mongolia in the finals of an Asian Cup or even a World Cup Finals.