The Mongolia national football team (Mongolian: Монголын хөлбөмбөгийн үндэсний шигшээ баг, Mongolyn khölbömbögiin ündesnii shigshee bag) represents Mongolia in international football and is controlled by the Mongolian Football Federation.
Founded in 1959, the association was inactive between 1960 and 1998 when the team did not feature in any international fixtures. The Mongolian Football Federation is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and the East Asian Football Federation. The team has never participated in the FIFA World Cup, and the only major international tournaments the team has taken part in are the 1998 Asian Games and 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, not progressing past the group stage in either competition.
History
Mongolia's first international fixture was a 12–0 loss to Japan during a match in Manchukuo in 1942. Between 1960 and 1998, the Mongolia team played no international matches before being accepted as a FIFA member in 1998.[4] Mongolia's first competitive matches were in the 1998 Asian Games qualifiers where they were heavily defeated by Kuwait 11–0, and by Uzbekistan 15–0.
They entered qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but lost their opening five matches before drawing 2–2 with Bangladesh, securing a single point. In the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, Mongolia was drawn against the Maldives and though they remained competitive after the first leg, only losing 1–0 at home, they were crushed in the second leg in Malé 12–0 and eliminated. In the first round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Mongolia was beaten 9–2 on aggregate by North Korea, and four years later in the 2014 qualifiers, Mongolia lost to Myanmar 2–1. Mongolia then lost in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers to Timor-Leste; however, they were later awarded two 3–0 victories as Timor-Leste had fielded numerous ineligible players. This came after the second round matches had been played; therefore, Mongolia did not advance in the competition.[5]
For Mongolia, their next tournament was the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, a tournament for the confederation's lowest ranked teams who have limited opportunities to arrange friendly matches, in November 2016. The tournament would replace the defunct AFC Challenge Cup.[6] Being drawn in Group B alongside Sri Lanka, Macau, and Laos, [7] Mongolia finished third in the group with a loss to Laos in the final match-day ending their chances of qualifying through to the semi-finals.[8]
Mongolia than hosted their first international with the EAFF Annual Meeting advising that Mongolia would host the Round 1 of qualification for the East Asian Football Championship[9] After comfortable wins in its first two matches, Mongolia needed only a single point against Guam on the final matchday to secure a place in the second round of the tournament for the first time ever.[10] After a scoreless first half, Guam took the lead in the 89th minute. However, in the fourth minute of stoppage time a Norjmoo Tsedenbal strike rescued a point for Mongolia which was enough for the team to earn the top spot in the group and advance.[11] Mongolia's 9–0 result over the Northern Mariana Islands set the current team record for largest margin of victory[12]
Mongolia succeeded in qualifying past the first round for the first time in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers by beating Brunei 3–2 over two legs.[13] In the second round, following a 14–0 defeat to Japan on 30 March 2021, they let head coach Rastislav Božik go and hired Shuichi Mase as their new head coach. In their next game on 7 June, Mongolia managed to shock Kyrgyzstan 1–0 for their first ever win against a Central Asian and a top-100 ranked opponent in a FIFA qualifier.[14] This win meant that the national team competed in Asian Cup qualifying in the third-round where they only would get the one win against Yemen.
EAFF suspension
According to the voting outcome at the AFC Congress held in January 2011, the Mongolian Football Federation was suspended to conduct any activities at the EAFF until the EAFF Ordinary Congress of March 2014.[15] They were welcomed back to the federation at the 7th Ordinary Congress and 41st and 42nd Executive Committee Meeting of the EAFF.[16]
The Mongolian national team is often nicknamed the Blue Wolves. The blue wolf is a symbol of Turkic and Mongolian people, and originates from the Mongolian legend of the blue wolf. The team has also been known as the "Shegshee", which translates as "national team" in Mongolian.[18]
Kits and crest
Currently, the Mongolian national football team uses an all-white uniform as their first colours, and a blue uniform as their second colours. In August 2021 it was announced that Mongolian sportswear company TG Sport had signed a two-year deal with the Mongolian Football Federation to provide kits for all Mongolian national teams.[19]
Kelme is currently the official jerseys sponsor for the team from 2023
Home stadium
Mongolia plays their home matches at the MFF Football Centre, a 5,000 capacity stadium in Ulaanbaatar. The stadium boasts an artificial playing surface.[20]
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.
^Grimm, Justin (7 September 2018). "Who is Bajinnyam Batbold?". Mongolian Football Central. Archived from the original on 8 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
(21 December 2023)[2]
North Vietnam 3–1 Mongolia 
Mongolia 9–0 Northern Mariana Islands 
Uzbekistan 15–0 Mongolia 
