On the second day of his tour of several East Asian countries, FIFA President Gianni Infantino today reached Mongolia, where he had a very busy schedule. His visit coincided with the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the Mongolian Football Federation (MFF) and included meetings with the highest authorities as well as the inauguration of a brand new football project.

Upon his arrival in Ulaanbaatar, Infantino was welcomed by a MFF delegation headed by President Ganbaatar Amgalanbaatar, and then paid a visit to the association’s headquarters, where he met the MFF executive committee and discussed the local context, challenges and development projects. He also met the U-19 national team and the futsal national team, who were both training at the MFF facilities.

The FIFA President then met Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, himself a former sportsman. “Mongolian football has been making huge progress in recent years, thanks to the hard and serious work of the MFF, and we need to continue on this path by improving existing infrastructure and investing in new facilities, adapted to the local context and challenges. We are writing a beautiful story and football has a bright future here in Mongolia,” said the FIFA President after his discussions with the football and state authorities.

The MFF has indeed made great progress in recent times, taking full advantage of the support granted via FIFA’s Forward Programme to develop football infrastructure and competitions in the country, and this was further reiterated during the FIFA President’s lunch with the Speaker of Parliament, Gombojav Zandanshatar.

After the installation last year of an artificial turf pitch and floodlights at the national training centre in Tuv, providing vital football infrastructure for the national teams, today’s visit by the FIFA President was an opportunity to inaugurate yet another state-of-the-art Forward-funded pitch in Yarmag in the presence of the country’s president, the men’s national team as well as the men’s and women’s U-19 national teams.

To end the day, the FIFA delegation also played a friendly match against MFF executives and Mongolian legends prior to the official celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the association.