June 24, 2023
The Mongolia National Premier League consists of 10 sides, who play each other three times for a 27-game season. For sponsorship reasons it is also known as the Mobi Premier League.
The Champions qualify for the second tier AFC Cup whilst the bottom two sides are relegated and replaced by the top two sides from the Mongolian First League. The season used to be played between April and October, but the two most recent competitions have been played between August and June with a break for the harsh Mongolian winter.
Current champions Erchim have traditionally been the strongest club in the country, with 13 titles to their name, with Khangarid one of three sides trailing with 4 titles. Athletic 220, champions in 2020 and 2021, withdrew from the league at the end of the 2021/22 season citing financial difficulties.
With capital Ulaanbaator home to over 50% of the country’s 3.3 million people, it is no surprise the 8 of the 10 sides in the National Premier League come from in or around the capital. Khangarid are from Erdenet, the second largest city in the country with a population of around 100,000, located 385km from the capital by road which is typically a journey of around 5 and half hours. Khovd is 1,500km away in the far west of the country, and takes roughly 18 hours by road. Tuv Buganuud FC are from the Tov Province, which is the area that surrounds the independently administered capital.
For at least since the resumption following the enforced Covid break, all NPL matches have been played in the 5,000 capacity MFF Football Centre, which has an artificial grass surface. Renovated in 2014, the stadium has an unusual design. An all-seater stand runs along one side of the pitch and oddly, starts to go a small way around each corner. On the opposite side is a small uncovered stand where the TV cameras and dressing rooms are situated as well as what looks to be some offices, but there is little behind both goals, although the traffic on the busy road at one end can often be seen at a standstill.
The Mongolian National side are currently 186 in the FIFA world rankings. This month they played against three higher ranked sides in a 4 team tournament in India, losing 0-2 to India, 0-1 to Vanuatu thanks to a volleyed own goal from Ulaanbaatar FC’s Gantuya, but grabbed a 0-0 draw with 99th ranked Lebanon. The Cedars missed a hat-full of chances and seemed to get the rough end of the stick from the referee as Ulaanbaatar City’s Batbaatar Amgalanbat won the man of the match award for his defensive display.
Mongolia nearly snatched an undeserved late winner but Ganbayar Ganbold, the only player in the squad playing his football outside of Mongolia, put a glancing header just wide of the post. Ganbold, who had scored twice in 7 appearances for the national side prior to the tournament, spent last season at Slovakian second division side Komarno, in turn being on loan from Hungarian top flight side Puskas Academy.
With champions Erchim struggling this season, the Mongolian squad for the tournament consisted almost exclusively of players from Ulaanbaator FC and Deren, currently the top two sides in the league although there were three from Ulaanbaator City, and one, defender Teemuujin Volodya, from Khangarid. Volodya played the full 90 minutes in the draw with Lebanon.
The big news from the NPL since the break whilst the national played its three friendlies was the announcement from 2019 champions Ulaanbaator City that they were withdrawing from the league with immediate effect. They had failed to turn up for their previous fixture, for which Deren were awarded a 3-0 win. Their translated statement on Facebook read :
“Football teams are suffering because of the Mongolian Football Association's fraud, burglary, judgment, dishonesty, heartless, justice, and mismanagement. It is hereby announced that starting today, UBC City will not pay any fees, participate in team training and major league activities. There have been several instances of football federation executives crying over our contributions to football development. It's sad that football is going backwards without development.”
It is expected that their final three games will also be awarded as 3-0 wins to their opponents. The excellent English language Mongolia Football Central website reported that part of their beef was a lack of support or recognition for the new ground and indoor training facilities the club has been building since 2017, and not being able to play any matches there.
Khangarid had lost all 9 of their matches before the winter break, conceding 5 goals or more in 7 of them and were reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy. They have clearly strengthened their side in the meantime, as they had a respectable 8-3-4 record in 2023 to sit in 6th place in the table.
Three Japanese players have been signed. Midfielder Kazutaka Sato joined from Shkumbini Peqin in the Albanian Third Division and had scored 9 times, Aoto Saito has found the net 8 times since signing from German Oberliga Niederrhein side Union Nettetal in the 5th level of football in Germany, and right-back Shoya Nagata was playing in the Tokyo Soccer league. Teemuujin Volodya scored three times in the losing run in 2022, and is now on 5 goals for the season.
SP Falcons were runners up in 2021, finished 6th in 2021/22 and started this weekend in 3rd place, two points behind Deren but a distant 19 points behind Ulaanbaator FC, who had already clinched the title.
Although they didn’t have any representatives in the recent Mongolia selection, they have some experienced former internationals amongst their ranks. Midfielder Monkh-Erdengiin Tuguldur won 24 caps and with 7 goals is third in their all-time scoring charts, Myagmar Batkhishig won 16 caps and was the Falcons top scorer so far this season with 19 goals, and Narmandakh Artig has 18 caps and had scored 9 times for the Falcons this season.
Falcons appear to have a relationship with Brazilian side Sao Paulo Crystal with three players joining at the start of the season, namely centre-back Thiago Tomais, winger Andre Ferreria and striker Vitor Guilherme, although Guilherme returned to Brazil during the winter break and is now playing for Santana. Brazilian striker Everton joined the club during the winter.
South Korean midfielder Choung-gyoung Kang also left mid-season and is now playing in the 5th level in Korea with TNT FC but was replaced by Japanese winger Ryohei Miyazaki, who has played for Serbian side Backa. Japanese defender Tsuruhara Koga rejoined the Falcons after a short spell with Slovakian third division side SKM Liptovsky Hradok.
Falcons won the first meeting between the two sides 7-1 last year, but were upset 2-3 in the second encounter.
Games from the top two divisions in Mongolia are shown live on Eleven Sports, with a feed from a local TV station with commentary in Mongolian. Although all the graphics on the TV screen are in Cyrillic script, the names of the players on the back of both sides’ shirts today were thankfully in Roman script.
The temperature at the 16.00 local time kick-off was 21 degrees on a partly cloudy day. Games at the start of the season were played in snow !
Bet365.com made Falcons 4/11 favourites, with Khangarid a seemingly generous 7/2 and the draw at 5/1.
Falcons were playing in yellow shirts with blue shirts whereas Khangarid were in a predominately all white kit, and the national anthem was played before the kick-off.
Khangarid started strongly and after only two minutes, Sato cut back on his right foot on the left to shoot narrowly over the bar. It straight away looked he had a lot in common with other Japanese left-wingers !
Falcons sent a long-range free-kick harmlessly over the bar, then Khangarid right-back Nagata’s cross had the Falcons keeper desperately back-pedalling as the ball sailed onto the roof of the net.
The Khangarid coach looked to be European and could be heard advising his team in English. There were plenty of Bravos, with the occasional Go Go Go !, Come On, or Good Job. On further investigation I think he may be former Mongolian international defender Altansukh Erdenebayar !
The game was very open and both sides were playing the ball on the floor, but the defenders were quite prepared to take the row Z option. It felt like there would be plenty of goals.
Falcons had the ball in the net in the 11thminute as Tuguldur finished from close range after Everton won a header, but he was clearly off-side.
Khangarid hit back with Temullen sending a 25 yard effort straight at the keeper and then the lively Sato embarked on a great run down the left-hand touchline but Thiago-Tomais was covering and produced a great tackle to end the danger.
The end-to-end nature of the game continued as Everton stepped past his marker but his low shot was comfortably saved, before a scramble in the Falcons’ area was eventually cleared. A 25-yard Falcons free-kick then struck the crossbar. In response, Khangarid’s Sainbuyan sent a long range left-footed attempt inches wide of the post with the keeper beaten.
With half an hour played Ochirzaya and Everton went for a 50/50 challenge which left the Khangarid defender injured on the floor. Everton sportingly helped Ochirzaya off the pitch, but he was not able to continue and Nagata moved from right-back to centre-back in a tactical switch.
A great reverse pass from Sato put Temullen in space, but his shot from a tightish angle ended in the side netting. As Khangarid started get on top, Falcons’ Everton and Koga saw yellow for late tackles. Sainbuyan then produced a great dummy and Temullen left the ball for him to run onto as he was in offside position, but Thiago-Tomais was again on hand to block and concede a throw-in.
It remained scoreless at the interval and although the game had been even, it felt like Khangarid were starting to get on top.
Khangarid again started strongly, forcing a corner, from which two Cruyff turns inside the area by Bazarkhuu ended with his shot being blocked.
Khangarid had made a tactical change at half-time, with Saito moving to left wing and Sato back to central midfield. In hindsight these changes appeared to have been a mistake and after having been the game’s most influential player in the first half, Sato became virtually anonymous.
The Falcons were starting to look more dangerous and a chip from the right found the unmarked Batkhishig 10 yards out, but his header was weak and wide.
An understrength back header by Koga was nearly latched onto by Temullen but Falcons then opened the scoring in the 59th minute. Khangarid left-back Sukhee was robbed of possession near the half-way line by Narmandakh, who spread the ball wide to Ferreira. The Brazilian’s pin-point low cross gave the advancing Everton a simple side-footed finish into the roof of the net.
Whilst Khangarid were still in shock at falling behind, they conceded a poor second goal two minutes later. Their keeper completely missed a corner, and the ball hit Thiago-Tomais on the leg inside the 6 yard area, sending the ball bouncing into the unguarded net.
The game was effectively over as a contest and Khangarid never looked like getting back into the contest. Tuguldur had another long range attempt pushed away but the Falcons extended their lead in the 74th minute. After Khangarid had made a double substitution, Falcons pumped a long ball deep into Khangarid half. With their keeper very slow to come off his line, Batkhishig was able to get to a ball never should have had a chance for, and was able to poke past the keeper.
Falcons were unlucky not to add a fourth goal 8 minutes from time, but after a slick 1:2 with Otgontsagaan, Everton’s side-footed shot cannoned back from the post. Tuguldur was again denied in added on time, but after disposing Tserendori of possession, another left-footed curling attempt was pushed away by keeper Enkhusan.
At the final whistle Falcons took the three points to temporarily move into second place with Deren still to play. The result was a lot more comfortably than had looked likely at half-time, and Khangarid would be rueing that all three goals they conceded came from defensive mistakes.
Khangarid FC : Enkhusan – Nagata ( Munkh-Erdene), Bilguun, Ochirzaya ( Batkhuu ), Sukhee ( Orgin ) – Sainbuyan ( Tserendori ), Erdenholog ( Lkhasuren ), Bazarkhuu, Saito, Sato - Temullen
SP Falcons FC : Erdenbat – Dulgoon, Thiago-Tomais, Koga, Lkhagasuren– Narmandakh ( Miyazaki ), Otgontsagaan, Batkhishig ( Bat-Erdene ), Tuguldur, Ferreria ( Jansyerik ) – Everton ( Munkhdemberel )
