"My teammates work at the factory as mechanics." Our man in Mongolia. Mongolian Football Championship Will you continue to play for this team?

Pupil of the Republican Specialized Children and Youth School of Olympic Reserve Football Erdni Mandzhiev During his short playing career he managed to play for the youth team of the Astrakhan Volgar and the revived Uralan. And more recently, he gained international experience, playing for one of the Mongolian championship teams and becoming the first Kalmyk football player in this tournament.

- Tell me, under what circumstances did you start playing in the Mongolian championship?

- Lari Ilishkin I know my father, and it so happened that he invited me to play for the Mongolian football team.

Basically, I didn’t think twice and a couple of days later I went to Mongolia. Of course, I consulted with my parents, and they said that I needed to go and try myself. So on the last day of the transfer window (July 30), I was announced to the team. I would like to say that representatives of the local public organization “Mongols of the 21st Century”, led by its leader Odbayar Olzvoy, also contributed to my transition.

- What was the name of the team you played on? And what city is she from?

- “Selenge Press”, the team represents the capital of Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar.

- Is there any translation?

As I understand it, the name is associated with the river. There is a river in Mongolia called Selenge.

- Who is the owner of the club?

The football team is owned by the publishing company Selenge Press. I and several other legionnaires met with the director of this organization in the most expensive restaurant in Ulaanbaatar. He spoke to us through an interpreter and was especially interested in Kalmykia. In general, our communication went well and in a relaxed atmosphere.

- How were you greeted?

My last name and first name are similar to Mongolian. The name Erdne is very common there. Therefore, it was a little easier for me in terms of development, although at first everyone thought that I was drilling. And when I told them that I was from distant Kalmykia, after a couple of games I finally joined the team. The attitude towards me has changed. By the way, first I had to prove my worth, because, you know, they just might not have been accepted into the team, especially since there were no videos of my games.

For the first two weeks I lived with a Kalmyk family that had been there for a long time. I would like to thank Lyudmila Buraeva, her daughter Kema Norpel and Kema’s daughter Bulgan Zhargalsaikhan for sheltering me. Kema, one might say, became a guide for me: she introduced me to the city and the Mongols, and helped with translation. Even after he moved to the hotel, he came to visit them.

- How was your adaptation?

At first, acclimatization was difficult due to the large time difference, plus six hours of difference is a lot. The first week I went to bed around five in the morning. But it took me a week to recover. But in terms of food there were no problems. Mongolian cuisine is similar to ours, Kalmyk. Every day we were treated to lamb and beef. I managed without fish and chicken for several months. But other legionnaires were not used to such food and did not particularly appreciate Mongolian dishes (laughs).

- I understand that you were not the only legionnaire on the team, so to speak?

Yes, the team also had two players from Japan and two from Russia.

- Who did you make friends with?

I talked to the guys I lived with in the hotel. Made good friends with the Japanese and Russian football players Andrey Alexandrov, he is from the city of Angarsk, Irkutsk region, and Viktor Navrotsky from Chita. In addition, I met the main star of Mongolian football, who played on our team. His name is Murun. He is the only professional footballer to have played abroad; he once played for teams from Thailand and Serbia. Murun speaks good English and therefore there were no problems with communication. During preparation, he gave me recommendations on how to run and exercise on exercise machines correctly. I also spoke with players from other teams before and after matches, mainly with guys from Russia.

- By the way, about communication: what language did you speak with your teammates?

I want to say that the Mongolian language is similar to ours. For example, I understood the names of numbers and verbs. I was helped by a Japanese man who already knew more or less Mongolian, and I spoke to him in English. He seemed to be translating some words for me. And so I spoke with the same Japanese and some Mongolian football players in English. It happened that he spoke Kalmyk and they understood.

- Tell us about the conditions for training.

I will note that the training process there is worse than here in Russia. Classes were held once a week, and games every weekend. Their gym is located at the stadium, where football players work out for free. I want to say that there is no specific base, so all the players are mainly based at the stadium.

- What place did the team take at the end of the season?

6th place. A lot of teams were released. We dominated in many games, but, unfortunately, the execution of chances let us down.

- What are your personal statistics?

I played as a central midfielder. I missed the first two games due to the fact that I had just arrived, plus injuries. In total, in seven games I scored four goals and made more than five assists.

- How did you spend your free time?

In his free time from training and games, Odbayar took me out into nature and showed me the sights of the city.

There is a very beautiful reserve there called “Terelzh”.

Visited the famous Turtle Rock. While jogging, I climbed Mount Zaisan.

They also have a large national park, where the air is very clean, it is an ideal place for jogging. I lived close to the center and, in principle, did not leave this area.

- Well, let's now talk in general about the tournament itself. How many teams play in the Mongolian Championship?

There are 10 clubs in the Premier League, and there is also the First League. Most of the top division teams are from Ulaanbaatar, except for two - “Hangard”, representing the city of Erdenet, and “Deren” from the city of the same name.

- Are there any specific favorites?

In the Mongolian championship, of course, there are leaders. For example, the Erchim team can be called the flagship of local football, because it is a nine-time national champion, a six-time Cup winner and a three-time Super Cup winner and represents Mongolia on the international stage. By the way, this year she won the championship title again. I think the main quality due to which they achieve such success is teamwork. Football players have been playing with each other for a long time. Their coach is Mongolian, he is very demanding. I once saw their classes.

- When does the football season start in Mongolia?

There is a pre-season in March, then championship games take place from April to October. I wasn’t there for the preseason because I joined the team in the second round, but the legionnaire guys said that they trained somewhere in the steppe and were shocked by this.

- How do you assess the level of the Mongolian championship and the players?

- I want to say that football in Mongolia is only gaining momentum. The organizers are holding the tournament under the auspices of FIFA, and this is already considered a professional league. Of course, the Russian championship is still a long way off, but by attracting foreign football players, their level is gradually increasing. For example, teams include Brazilians, Serbs, Spaniards, Japanese and even Americans. And English, Serbian, and Japanese specialists work as trainers. By the way, next year the organizers are seriously taking up development. So, for example, a foreign player will no longer be able to sign a contract without an agent. In general, there are prerequisites that we will soon hear about Mongolian football.

If we talk about individual skill, there are players with very good technique. In principle, they may be strong individually, but their team and tactical play is weak. I would also like to note the fact that sometimes there is a very tough fight for the ball, this is especially evident when the players of one of the teams lose. Not often, but it happens. I was even almost taken away on a stretcher once.

- How are things going with the fans’ interest? Do many people come to the matches?

They, of course, are trying to popularize football and broadcast matches on television. There are two good stadiums in Ulaanbaatar, but basically all games take place in one. They are not as big as, for example, our Uralan. If you compare it, it’s the size of two stands in our stadium. So the audience interest there is average. But what really surprised me was that basketball is very popular in Mongolia. People of all ages play it, and almost every yard has a basketball hoop. I think it's the next most popular sport after nationals.

- Do football players earn a lot in Mongolia?

They do not yet have a bonus system, only a fixed salary. Well, on average a player receives 30-50 thousand rubles, if translated into our money.

- Will you continue to play for this team?

At one of the meetings, the owners told us that next year more money would be poured in and, accordingly, conditions would be better. In addition, they want to invite a foreign coach. By the way, I was offered to continue playing for this team, but I’m still thinking about it.

Russian midfielder Mikhail Zaitsev told the portal " Euro-football.ru" about my adventures in the Mongolian football championship.

- Mikhail, how did it happen that you got into this mysterious Mongolian championship?

My agent Vyacheslav Martynov suggested that I move to a club from Mongolia. My contract with the Latvian football club “Liepaja” had just ended, and I agreed.

- What surprised you about the Mongolian Championship?

Firstly, with the exception of us and Erchim, all other teams play their matches at the national stadium in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, only the sign changes, who is away today and who is at home. Secondly, all fields are artificial. Thirdly, before and after the match, the teams line up and shake hands, as in hockey or volleyball. The level of football between our KFC and the second division. I was also very surprised by the Mongolian players, who at any point fall and whine, and when the doctor approaches, they immediately “come to life”.

That is, compared to our divisions, Mongolia has less contact football: fewer joints and emphasis on physics?

Yes. The “fizukha” there is weak, the emphasis is more on working with the ball. And they try to put their feet away and not go into the “joints”.

- Tell us about the Hangard club where you played.

One of the oldest clubs in Mongolia. The only one that does not play in Ulaanbaatar. I was a champion a couple of times. This year, we spent a long time in the top three, but in the end we finished in fifth place. Before the break we were in second place and thought we could improve. The team had only one striker - a Nigerian who had been playing in Mongolia for seven years, Paul Ebuka. A couple of times when he received cards or was injured, we entered the match without any strikers at all. We agreed that I would invite Lasha Omanidze, a striker from St. Petersburg, to the team. Coach Munkhnasan Otgonbayar first offered him some conditions, and when the player was about to fly in, he unexpectedly decided to reconsider the terms of the agreement. Naturally, Lasha refused. We started the second part of the championship without any strikers at all, and then the coach started acting weird...

- That is?

I practically did no training. For example, there was a pause for national team matches. He dismissed everyone for the first week, and gave two exercises for the second: transferring the ball from one sideline to another and shooting at the goal; they didn’t even run crosses. Then I started playing around with the composition. We play with an outsider, he takes and carries out a rotation, removes half of the main squad and releases sixteen-year-old boys who did not show up at training at all. He tried not to pay us legionnaires the money that was stipulated in the contract.

- Is the head coach in Mongolia responsible for financial matters?

Well, when the question arose with our salary. More precisely, with her delay, I raised the issue of payment with other legionnaires, and it turned out that he was the head coach, the team manager, and almost the chief accountant. He began to tell us that there was no money in the club, which was a lie, since we had a serious sponsor: a copper mining and processing plant. Chief in Mongolia. The guys and I found out how ordinary citizens who work at the enterprise were doing. There are no delays in wages, although he told us that there are big problems there and they have no time for us. When the salary delay reached two months, I first went to see the president of the club, and then the general director of the enterprise. They put the coach in the knee-elbow position, “fryed” him, and he immediately gave the money to everyone who owed it. Now he knows that he will no longer be able to deceive visiting boys!

- Class! And that in Mongolia any player can go to an appointment with the management of the team sponsor?

Well, no, of course (laughs). But what to do? I had to look for contacts and exits. The courage and pressure of the city take over.

- Did the coach talk to you after that?

Yes. He turned to us, the “legionnaires,” and asked us to suggest something in the training process. We said that we need to work on tactics and on realizing dangerous moments. He: “okay,” and all silence. So they dropped from second to fifth place, and they left him on the team. After this news, all legionnaires took away their documents and did not renew their contracts with Hangard.

- Let's go back to the championship, what else is unusual about it?

I already told you once, Anatoly, but I’ll repeat it. In winter, all teams play a full-fledged futsal championship. The winner plays in the Asian Futsal Cup. That is, in one year you can win the Mongolian football championship with the Mongolian Cup and the Mongolian futsal championship with the Asian Futsal Cup. The Hangard players will begin preparations for the futsal championship in a month.

- Mikhail, tell us about Mongolia, you had to travel around it during away matches.

All our away games took place in the capital of Mongolia, in the city of Ulaanbaatar, which is six to seven hours away by bus through the endless steppes, where there is no cell phone service for a hundred kilometers. You drive, and outside the window there are rams, sheep, yurts, again the steppe and no one.

- Are there other Russian players in the championship besides you?

Yes, we met a couple of times with Alim Zumakulov from St. Petersburg, he played for Selenge Press and Zviad Tsikolia, who played for Erchim (the first Georgian in the history of the Mongolian championships), walked around Ulaanbaatar, sat in a cafe.

- Would you return back to the Mongolian championship?

Yes, we would have even stayed in “Hangard” if it weren’t for Otgonbayar. Everything in the club is at a good level in terms of training - the gym, the swimming pool, the sauna, medicine, and nutrition.

- In the summer you told me that you were tired of horse meat and strange lamb...

Yes, yes (laughs)! My friend and also a Hangard player, Vladimir Uldyakov, and I have already hanged ourselves from this meat. We had to ask them to replace it with chicken. Sometimes they themselves drove to the border to buy themselves some normal cheese.

- Can you highlight any of the Mongolian players on your team?

The young guys from the attack line, Mgush and Ganhuyag, play well and score. Mgush also had a conflict with the coach. Because of him, he almost left the team, sat at home and did not want to play. The coach had to go to him and beg him to forgive him. They were called up to the national team this year, but I would advise them to move to another club, since they will not achieve anything with this coach, and the guys are talented. They should move to a club that participates in the AFC Cup. If we return to your question “would I return back to the Mongolian championship”, then I would be happy to join a club that participates in the Asian Europa League. There is an interesting selection system for this tournament, as our striker Paul Ebuka told me, the winner of the Mongolian Super Cup gets into it, not the national champion. That is, either Erchim or Ulaanbaatar City will take part in the next draw. The first won the championship, the second the National Cup.

-Who did you become friends with on the team?

Volodya and I became friends with Paul Ebuka. We communicate with him in a mixture of English, Russian and Mongolian.

- Did you enjoy living at the base for the whole season?

Quite. No temptations, just work on yourself. Gym, field, sauna, swimming pool. Work and improve.

-You didn’t go to the city at all?

Well, at the end of the season, when our coach turned off the Internet for us at the base, we started going to restaurants with Wi-Fi to communicate with our family.

- How do you mean “turned off the Internet”?

Yes, that's it. Another “hello” from Otgonbayar. After we got our money out of him, he stopped paying for the Internet, which was used by the legionnaires who lived at the base. Reduced expenses. Rat. Yes, he tried to deceive everyone. As an example: a team goes on a trip, each player is entitled to a certain amount per day for food. Relatively speaking, a thousand rubles. And he gave out nine hundred and ninety. Even ten rubles, but in your pocket. You ask: “Why not the full amount?” He immediately goes numb before our eyes and stops understanding Russian or English.

- Do many Mongols speak Russian?

In Erdenet, where Hangard is based, there is even a Russian district, when you enter it, you are greeted by a large portrait of Lenin on one of the high-rise buildings. And here we even became friends with a local boy whose brother studies at the university in St. Petersburg. His name is Orshikh, and his brother's name is Bernie. Orshikh came up, asked if I played for the club, we got to talking, then he showed us the city and the surrounding area, he came to the PlayStation to “hack” at our base.

- Did they recognize you, Vladimir and Paul on the street? Did you ask for an autograph?

At first they didn’t ask for an autograph, but from the second round they started asking me to take and sign something for selfies. And when the three of us went out into the city, they looked at us and pointed their fingers. They offered kumis to drink.

- Do Mongols drink?

I have never seen so many drunk people in any country. If you walk down the street and don’t meet a drunk, then you are not in Mongolia. Yes, our team captain Altansukh Erdenebayar is an alcoholic. He managed to get drunk before the game with the championship leader Erchim. He came drunk and started telling everyone how he was going to tear everyone apart. The coach releases him in the base, instead of his position in the center, he moved to the flank and splashed water on the edge. They were substituted ten minutes after the start of the game. After the match I say to the coach: “Coach, what was that? What kind of example is the captain setting for the young players? They will look at him and also give up on the regime.” He: “Yes, we will take action” and nothing, not even the captain’s armband was deprived of him, he continued to drink and talk about his greatness. On the day of the game with FC Ulaanbaatar, he got drunk again and sat on the bench drunk, not understanding anything about what was happening around him. And the coach turned a blind eye to all his eccentricities. I don’t know, maybe they are relatives, maybe they have some kind of financial connection, but it was all very strange for us.

- The amazing is nearby. And there are many foreign players in the championship, and is there a limit on foreign players?

There is a limit. No more than four foreign players on the field. And there are no restrictions on the application for the season. Most of the foreign players are from Japan; they have friendly relations with Mongolia.

- Which Russian division compare salaries in the Mongolian championship?

The leaders of the championship have salaries slightly higher than in the second division, but the salaries of the FNL are very far from them.

- Do many fans go to matches?

About three thousand people gathered at our home matches. When we played Ulaanbaatar City and Erchim away, there were about ten thousand people at the matches.

- Well, thank you, Mikhail, for the interview!

Thank you too. Taking this opportunity, I would like to say “hello” to Kirill Vasiliev from Tsarskoye Selo, as well as Anton Ryabkov and Boris Abelman, the leaders of the Junior children’s football school, who do a great job of popularizing football among children and youth.

Anatoly Gorskov

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Amazing story Mikhail Zaitsev- a 24-year-old Russian midfielder who abruptly changed his career vector this spring and went to an exotic championship.

“Mikhail Zaitsev is a graduate of St. Petersburg football, a player of one of the leaders of the Mongolian championship, “Hangard”.

TICKETS TO ULAN BATOR AT YOUR OWN EXPENSE

In elementary school, I was always a hooligan: I fought, I broke windows... Once I even broke the school fence in my native Pavlovsk, in the south of St. Petersburg. I needed to channel my energy into a peaceful direction, so I decided to go in for sports. He took up everything: sambo, volleyball, gorodki, darts, paramilitary all-around events (weights, shooting, hand-to-hand combat, running, swimming), but he loved football most of all.

He played in St. Petersburg for Tsarskoe Selo, Rus, Tosno-2. When "Rus" was disbanded, my coach Igor Kuznichenkov He said to apply for a visa - there was an option abroad, although I still didn’t know which one. Ended up in Estonian "Lokomotiv", but there were terrible problems with the organization: salaries were delayed, bonuses were rarely given out... But the strangest thing happened during the transition matches. At first we were told that some of the players could not play, but after our defeat and relegation from the major league, it turned out that they had the right to take the field.

After Estonia, I went to Latvia, and spent 2016 in the Junior club from the LFL, where I played for bonuses, and at the same time coached children at the local academy - this is how I made money. At the beginning of 2017, my agent Vyacheslav Martynov offered to move to Tajikistan - to a club that plays in the Asian Champions League. I agreed, signed all the documents, but it was necessary to take some kind of exemption from Estonia. I called there and asked them to hurry up, but everything was delayed, and Tajikistan fell apart.

Here Vyacheslav suggested an option with Mongolia. The first thing I thought was: “A good option! Better than sitting in the KFK and waiting for a miracle.” Well, it's true. Change of scenery, new opportunities, acquaintances. Moreover, another Russian football player went with me - Vladimir Uldyakov, with whom we played in the Tosno double team. I didn’t even think - I almost immediately agreed to the transition. Volodya and I bought tickets at our own expense for the next flight to Ulaanbaatar and flew off. For our own - because the club was afraid to transfer money to us. Maybe we won't come.

WE ARRIVED - TRAINED - PLAYED

Before arriving there, I knew nothing about Mongolia. Yurta, Asians, Genghis Khan - that’s all the associations. Then I started looking for information on the Internet about my club “Hangard” and realized that everything was fine there. Of course first Google I didn’t get much out of the request, but I thought, okay, we’ll get our bearings on the spot.

Eto'o was not greeted at the airport when he joined Real Madrid. But our level is more serious! Everything was as it should be - with a sign, with a name, only the fireworks were missing. We were met by the coach's son and his wife. By the way, she speaks Russian quite well, so we communicate with the Mongols through her. We got into a taxi and drove 300 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar to Erdenet, where Hangard is based.

We arrived at 7 am, drove for 6 hours, checked in, slept for an hour and left for training at 6 pm. Why wait? I didn’t come here to sit on the bank, I have to work! People go to war with a bullet in their leg, but why should I feel sorry for myself? Moreover, the very next day we went to the match. I played 90 minutes and was recognized as the best player of the meeting. The prize is a handshake. In other Mongolian clubs, I heard, they give bonuses for this or give a pair of boots, but here it’s modest.

The Mongolian "Hangard" has four legionnaires.

LIMIT AND WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP

My club is based in Erdenet, the second largest city in Mongolia. The team once became the champion of Mongolia, last year it took second place behind the local super club, Erchim from Ulaanbaatar.

In Mongolia there is a limit of four foreigners on the field. But Hangard has no problems with this: there are only four foreign players. I, Volodya, are a Nigerian, Paul Chukwu, and recently another of our boys came to us from St. Petersburg - Maxim Klyuev.

"Hangard" is the only Mongolian championship club not from Ulaanbaatar. But we have our own stadium! There are as many as eight teams playing in one arena, and only Erchim and us in others. The level of the championship is somewhere between the PFL and LFL.

It's hot in summer, +35C. But in winter, they say, it can be 35 degrees below zero. The Mongolian championship stops in winter, and all clubs, except Erchim, move to the halls and play mini-football. “Erchim” is going to training camp and preparing for the season. But so far this is not helping him much: at the group stage of the Asian Champions League, Erchim lost all four matches with a total score of 0:21.

It is annoying that the Mongols, upon any contact, collapse on the lawn and writhe in pain until a doctor comes running to them. After that, they get up in a second and start running. Not doctors, but golden healers! I was also surprised that after each game the teams line up and shake hands. Just like at children's matches.

POKER ON THE ROAD

We go to matches by minibus, in a “loaf”. On the road, I usually watch a movie or listen to music, and almost all Mongolians sit forward and play poker with the coach. I don’t even know the rules, I don’t like gambling, but these guys have a real mania.

I'm actually a defensive midfielder, but here I always play in central defense. It’s not a problem for me to play defense, but I like to join attacks, but here it doesn’t work out. But the agent immediately told me: the club needs central defenders. True, when Volodka and I came to meet the coach, he asked what positions we played. I answered: “Center of Defense.” And Vova said that he is a defensive player, and now he plays there. Apparently, if I called myself a forward, they would have put me in attack.

The coach's name is Munkhnasan Otgonbayar. But I just call him Coach. I communicate with him in a mixture of Russian and Mongolian. I start talking, and let him figure out what I meant. In Mongolian I know only three words: “baitla” is “thank you”, “sano” is “hello”, and “kuku” or “ukuku” is something like “no”. But I don’t learn the language, I don’t need it. It's easier for me to play Crocodile than to memorize local words. I'm not kidding about "Crocodile". The other day I was trying to explain to the waitress in the cafeteria that I wanted chicken breast. I point to my leg and say: “No chicken is lying down.” Then I grab my chest: “Chicken honor.” She seemed to nod, but brought something incomprehensible - neither a breast nor a leg.

SWASTIKA IS EVERYWHERE

It is impossible to eat meat. Lamb smells, horse meat tastes bad. In Ulaanbaatar, the meat seems to be normal, but in Erdenet it’s terrible. Here the porridge is specific - there are no grains visible, only milk. After a couple of months of eating this way, I demanded to be given other food. Now for lunch, instead of meat soup, they give me a salad with eggs and potatoes, and for the main course - most often boiled breast. Vova and Paul also cannot eat local meat. It’s normal for Mongols, they eat like this all their lives, there’s nothing to compare it to. But we can't.

Our team is friendly, although most often I communicate with other legionnaires. Before the game with Unaganud, the coach took us to his dacha for barbecue - something like team building. Yes, I had to eat lamb again, but the coach tried, and it didn’t turn out too bad. By the way, we won then - 2:1.

We live right on the base near the stadium. There are basketball players in one building, volleyball players, judokas, boxers in the other, and football players live on the fourth floor in another block. The three of us are in the same room - me, Vova and now Max. Something like a dorm. I don't think about moving. I’m fine, everything is there: a gym, a swimming pool, a sauna, a dining room. Everything you need for self-improvement.

In Mongolia, swastikas are everywhere: in the gym, in the club office, I saw a pattern in its shape, on fences. They called a taxi: on the door inside a red rectangle there was a swastika drawn, just like the Nazis. I saw Mongols with a neck decoration in the form of this symbol, and one had a tattoo. I knew it meant the sun, but I was told that in Mongolia the swastika is a sign of Buddhism. That's why there is so much of it.

ALCOHOLICS AND YURTS

This is an undeveloped country. The roads are ruined, cars honk their horns incessantly, and no one is allowed to pass at pedestrian crossings. Everywhere there are steppes, steppes, steppes. There are modern houses in Ulaanbaatar, and in Erdenet too, but basically Mongolia is in decline. It feels like I flew here in a time machine and ended up back in time around the 1980s. Or even in the cartoon "The Flintstones", where the Stone Age is.

The dishes are always dirty, the food in the stalls is stale, and in supermarkets the manufacturing date is written on the products by hand. There are a lot of drunks on the streets. They will come up to us and shoot small things and move on if they refuse. And here everyone goes to the end: “Give, give, give!..” If you don’t run away, they won’t leave you behind. There was a case: I was walking out of the store, and someone who was almost “finished” came up to me, drunk. I tried to get away from him, but he ran after me about a hundred meters and tried to grab me by the sleeve. And the other got to the bottom of our Paul, threatened him with gestures, as in the film: “I’ll stab you if you blinked!”

There are plenty of horses, although no one rides them - almost everyone here gets around in Toyota cars. There are those who live in yurts, but the majority of Mongols live in apartments, in their own houses. I was in a yurt - consider it a one-room apartment, only round. There is a stove, a bed, a stove, so you can live there. There are few yurts within the city, but in the steppe you can see them.

"Hangard" emblem.

SALARY IN DOLLARS

I asked the Mongols what to do in Erdenet. They didn't really answer. Here even the Ferris wheel doesn’t look like an attraction - from its top point you can see the roof of the neighboring house and the middle of the mountain. And why did it have to be built? By the way, I climbed the mountain because I had nothing to do. It is just visible from my window, and one day I decided to climb it alone. It was 9 o’clock in the evening, I climbed one peak, then another, then even higher - I probably conquered 1500 meters. True, there were difficulties with the descent - it got dark and I couldn’t see anything. But it seems he returned intact.

I receive my salary not in local tugriks, but in dollars - every month they give me in an envelope, and fresh bills, barely printed. Salary is approximately 70 - 80 thousand rubles. I have enough, but my teammates earn extra money on the side. There is a copper production plant in Erdenet, where some of our football players work, for example, as mechanics. In the morning - to the factory, in the evening - to training. But it normal. When I performed in Estonia, a sushi chef and three miners played with me on the team, extracting salt.

My contract with Hangard runs until the end of the season, which ends at the end of September. We can get to second place, but my future does not depend on the result. I don’t want to stay in Mongolia, in Erdenet for sure. I want to go to Spain, closer to the summer, and my career goal is Manchester United.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT FOOTBALL IN MONGOLIA

Football is second in popularity to archery, martial arts, and bandy. The Mongolian bandy team has participated in world championships several times.

Politicians in Mongolia come from sports backgrounds. The current president, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, is a former world champion in sambo, and his predecessor, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, is an ardent football fan who has met more than once with top stars - Cristiano Ronaldo, Forlan, Philippe Coutinho.

Murun Altanhuyag became the first professional football player in Mongolia, signing a contract with a Thai second division club. He also became the first Mongolian to perform in Europe - in 2015, he played for some time for the Serbian “Machva”.

Mongolian football player Gandelger Gandbold played in England. Moreover, he played for Tottenham! True, to be fair, he failed to grow above the Spurs double.

The Mongolia national team played matches against Russian teams. In particular, in 2011 the Mongols lost to Irkutsk Radian-Baikal with a score of 1:8. On In the 76th minute, Khurelbaatar scored a prestige goal.

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