AKIPRESS.COM - One of football’s most formidable adversaries is of course the climate, and there can be few better examples than Mongolia. Landlocked between China and Russia in central-east Asia, its winters can last up to six months and generate temperatures as low as -45°C. In fact, no other country has a lower annual mean temperature, reports the official website of FIFA.

However, these climatic challenges have not discouraged the Football Federation of Mongolia (FFM), which has been working diligently since its re-establishment in 1997 to develop the game in its country. The project has at its core a long-term strategic plan, in which futsal has a key role for the simple reason that it can be played all year round.

Futsal in Mongolia was given a significant boost 2011, when, with the assistance of FIFA’s Goal Projects 3 and 4, the country’s first futsal arena was inaugurated. Since then, and with the continued backing of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the FFM has held six futsal courses in Mongolia, laying the foundations for both the organisation of tournaments and the national team infrastructure.

In that context, Mongolian futsal will celebrate a very significant milestone this November, when it hosts the Eastern Zone Qualifiers of the Asian Futsal Championship. At the tournament, China PR, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Korea Republic will vie with the hosts for two berths at the final phase of the continental championship, which in turn will decide the AFC’s five representatives at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016.

"Developing football and futsal in a measured way is one of the priorities of our strategic plan for 2012-2022,” Mongoljingoo Sodgerel, a member of the FFM’s Department of Development and International Relations, told FIFA.

"With this goal in mind, it would be immensely beneficial if we could compete at a Futsal World Cup. And while we envisage a good performance in the qualifiers for 2016, we expect to see the results for the 2020 edition. We have a generation of talented youngsters, and we’re doing everything in our power to ensure they continue developing," he added.

The national team was still in its infancy in 2011 when Mongolia first participated in the preliminary round of qualifiers for a Futsal World Cup. On that occasion they lost their two games against Korea Republic (5-1) and Hong Kong (3-0), finishing bottom of their group on the road to Thailand 2012. The decision not to take part in the qualifiers for the 2014 Asian Championship was not so much a step backwards as a means of allocating resources with a view to the future.