The 20th edition of “From Pitches in Asia”, in which we introduce the viewpoints of instructors active in Asian countries, is written by Mr. IKI Yoji, who works for the Mongolian Football Federation (MFF) as Coach of U-14 Mongolia Women's National Team.

Life in Mongolia

In mid-February, I left Sendai and arrived at Genghis Khan Airport, setting foot on the land of Mongolia for the first time in my life. I'm used to a cold weather as I grew up in the north, but I shivered at the minus 30 degrees Celsius. The apartment and facilities like indoors futsal court on the MFF premise were fully equipped with heaters, and then I got used to the cold after three weeks. While the area of Mongolia is about four times larger than that of Japan, its population is 300 million. And among the half of the population, 150 million people live in the nation's capital Ulaanbaatar (1300m above sea level). Quite different from our image of Mongolia where nomads live a relaxing life, the city bristles with modern high-rise buildings, showing their development into a modern city. From June to August, the climate is cool without humidity just like Japan's Hokkaido, and I'm living a comfortable life.

About Mongolian Football

Mongolian men's football is at a high level beyond our expectation. The domestic top league, consisting of 10 teams (of 9 teams are based in Ulaanbaatar), takes place in a double round-robin system during the season from May through September. About ten Japanese players play in the league and some show outstanding performance for their team. Compared to Japan, women's football population is extremely small. I was named as "Coach of U-14 Women's National Team" but also act as a coach for a wide range of players from the same age group. The Mongolian players are lively and pure. Even though they occasionally have arguments with their teammates, they make it up quick and go home together. They are generous and do not care much about.

Individual sports like wrestling is very popular in this country, but team sports are still developing. On the technical side of football, there are little players who can actually "kick and stop balls," so I work with patience in coaching football fundamentals and also the importance of team play. On top of that, I always stress on attitude off the pitch such as showing appreciation to others, greeting, cleaning the facilities, and respect rules of the team.

Training camp in Miyagi, Japan

For 10 days from 12 to 21 August, we held a training camp at MFA Matsushima Football Centre in Miyagi. This trip to Japan was officially confirmed in late May, and the players including girls who were frequently skipping training suddenly started to work seriously right after I announced to them, "At the end of June, I will select 20 players who are going to Japan."  During the camp, we played seven training matches (against 1st graders from Seiwa Gakuen High School, Tokiwagi Gakuen High School and Sendai Ikuei High School) and finished with one win and six losses. We lost big in most matches, but for the players, it was like "a picture is worth a thousand words." They couldn't help but sigh with wonder when playing against Miyagi's women's teams playing high-level flowing football.

We had a lot of interactive exchange programmes outside football as well. The players were fully enjoying their visits to Miyagi Prefectural Government Office, Matsushima Town Hall, Kahoku Shimpo Publishing, Matsushima Bay Cruise, Sendai Umino Mori Aquarium, shopping in Sendai and so on. In particular, whole team including grown-ups was very excited at the beach. For the Mongolian kids, it was a precious experience as there is no ocean in Mongolia.

The camp took place in Matsushima, one of the three best scenic sites in Japan, and the team enjoyed its beauty and calmness. And everyone on the team was showing their deep appreciation for the support and hospitality from the host Miyagi Football Association, Football Centre and all the people from the opponent teams.

For the Development of Mongolian Football

Forty years ago, I took part in a coaching workshop for coaches of youth categories at Kashima Heights in Ibaraki, which was hosted by the father of Japanese football Mr. Dettmar CRAMER. I was very impressed by the workshop.  I still clearly remember that he was emphasising why basic skills are so important. Now, I'm realising the learnings from Mr. Cramer perfectly fit to my coaching in Mongolia. You have to build strong foundation of the techniques.

On the tactics side, you have to make it clear on the difference between "coach" and "let them think." My future goal is to further develop the fundamental skills, improve ability of decision-making, and build strong foundation of women's football in this country by taking advantage of Mongolian characteristics and integrating them into what they learned from Japan.  MFF is targeting their women's team to play in the Asian Games in 2018 for the first time and have competitive matches against Asian powerhouses.

As Bridge between Mongolia and Japan

The club I play for in Japan "Miyagi Phoenix Soccer Club" (a senior category team composed of more than 150 of over-60's members) travelled all the way to Mongolia from 29 August to 3 September. A total of 15 members (73 years old average) including captain ITO Takao, 86, and coach NISHIMAKI Shiro, 85, visited the country and played 3 matches against Ulaanbaatar Selection O-60, U-14 Mongolia Women's National Team that I coach, and Mongolia Japanese Society Team. They lost all the matches, but it was a very fruitful trip for them visiting the Japanese Embassy in Mongolia, the JICA office, the Mongolia Olympic Committee, the MFF office as well as horse-riding experience. I will be actively involved in Mongolia-Japan grassroots exchanges in a wide range of generations from juniors to seniors.

Overseas dispatch of Official JFA Licensed Coaches