My Name On A National Team Jersey

Irmunzaya Munkhbat, Mongolia

Irmunzaya Munkhbat is a player for the Mongolian women’s national team. She is also a football and futsal referee while studying Japanese at the Mongolian University of Culture and Education. We also teamed up with Mongol Post and what3words to send our cameras to a precise 3m square of the Mongolian Football Federation. By dividing the world into 3m squares and giving each one a unique combination of three words, what3words has created an entire ecosystem of companies using what3words addresses in Mongolia.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your current football life?

My name is Irmunzaya Munkhbat and I was born in Tuv province, Mongolia. I am a player for Storm Football Club and also for the Mongolian women’s national team. Storm Football Club is a new club founded in April 2022. We won the Mongolian Women’s National Football League. I used to play for Tulnuud FC.

I am also a referee. When I started playing football in 2016, I did not know a single rule. When I participated in a competition for the first time, I thought the referee was really knowledgeable and cool. When I turned 16 I attended a refereeing course. After 6 months, I passed all the tests and I became an official referee. It is a part time job, so I can play football too. We do not have many referees, so I referee football and futsal. I referee all levels except the Mongolian Premier league. In 2022 I refereed a U17 international competition in Mongolia. I think I really improved a lot in 2022.

Now I am studying Japanese and Japanese culture at Mongolian University of Culture and Education. When I was a kid, I really loved to watch Naruto (anime). I was spending 5 hours every day watching anime. My dad studied Japanese and my coach was from Japan. So I got closer to Japanese culture. In the future, I want to live for a few years in Japan.

What has been your football journey up until now?

When I was in 8th grade at middle school (84th school in Ulaanbaatar), I joined my school football club. I was the goalkeeper at futsal and my first training was the most pressure I have ever felt in my life. Other kids were much better than me, and I thought, is soccer that hard? The next day I was so tired. But I went to practice again the next day, because the coach was from Japan (I love Japan) and I really loved spending time with my new friends.

I trained so hard for six months but my abilities were not good enough, and I was not selected to go to the East Asian Football Federation U15 girls tournament in Shanghai with my friends. One day the coach told me "You should stop playing football. You do not have any talent. You are just wasting time. You should try something else”.  But I did not want to give up, and he told me "If you really want, you can join training". This meant everything to me.

Sometimes I missed my classes to do football training and it started to affect my grades. So my Dad told me, "if your grades go down, you have to stop playing football".

In March 2018, I heard the summer training camp in July would be in Japan. I really wanted to go, so I started trying harder than ever before. I made a schedule for myself, to go to school in the morning, do my homework during class break, go to training, cook myself healthy meals, and go to bed at 9pm. Finally my game started to improve and I received words of praise from the coach.

But I was not good enough for international competition and I did not reach my final goal. Instead, I became a referee, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. I learned many things - communication, teamwork, the laws of the game, leadership, self confidence, and time management.

During Covid-19, I still continued my training alone. And in 2021, I was called up to the national team for the first time. It was one of the best moments in my life.

I believe that thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny. It does not matter how many times you are rejected, if you really want to do something, work smart with hard work, never give up, and keep climbing.

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

I took the photos during our international matches for the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers, so I tried to show our team training and some of my life. I wanted to show our team spending time with each other. The atmosphere is always warm and cosy, so there are good memories.

19 is my favourite number. Seeing my name on a national team jersey is such an honour.

You can see the Mongolian women’s national team on the team bus, during team meetings, and during training at the Mongolian football training base before we went to Uzbekistan and also in Uzbekistan.

How did Covid-19 affect football in your community?

We did not do any training for almost two years during the pandemic. I do not feel like I have improved much the last few years, but it allowed me to focus on my personal skills.

What does football mean to you? What role does football play in Mongolian society?

For me football is my whole life. When I started playing football, I also learnt about working hard, so in many ways my life improved a lot. Football is my future.

Football is the biggest sport in the world. But it is not popular in Mongolia because it is not very developed. Mongolians pay more attention to individual sports, basketball and Mongolian Sumo.

What are the opportunities for female footballers in Mongolia? What is the future for Mongolian women's football?

Due to the small population, not many women play football. The national team was created about four years ago and we have a lot to develop. If the Mongolian Football Federation supports the women's national team and focuses on us, we will be able to compete against the top countries in Asia in 15 years, because Mongolian women are strong.

What are your ambitions?

Football is a big industry and an athlete's career is not very long. I am a referee now, but in the future I want to be an international referee with FIFA. The life of a referee can further develop my knowledge and language. I have many plans for the future: football, a healthy life, social media, becoming multilingual, going into business. You will see me when I go international, watch this space!