Garidmagnai, Mongolia's First Pro-Licensed Coach, Takes Over National Team

Image property of the MFF

Today the MFF confirmed the worst-kept secret in Mongolian football as Bayasgalan Garidmagnai was announced as the new head coach of the men's national team. He replaces Otsuka Ichiro, who was relieved from the same position just two days ago.

Garidmagnai immediately began preparation for upcoming matches against Timor-Leste in 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification to be played on 5 September and 10 September. It is unclear if the appointment is permanent, with the MFF not stating the length of the deal and only specifically stating that he will be at the helm for these two matches.

Garda, as he is known, has always been a standard bearer for Mongolia on the international stage. Long before the likes of Ganbold Ganbayar began playing abroad, Garidmagnai made the breakthrough and joined Iraqi club Erbil SC in 2011 and Chinese club Dalian Shide the following year. It was a desire to remain with his wife and child that prevented him from accepting further offers from clubs in Serbia and Singapore.

During his domestic playing career, he was MPL champion four times and MFF Cup and Super Cup Champion twice each. In 2019, he announced his retirement as the only Mongolian to appear in qualification for five world cups and was, at the time, the national team's all-time caps leader and its former captain.

Prior to retirement, he began the next phase of his career, coaching, as a member of Deren FC's staff in 2019, juggling his responsibilities as a both player and coach. However, this was not Garidmagnai's first coaching role. By 2012 he had already begun coaching youth football at Deren while a member of the club's roster.

Following stints as a player-coach with BCH Lions and an assistant to Vojislav Bralusic at Ulaanbaatar City in 2020, Garidmagnai was named head coach of Premier League club Athletic 220 FC later that year. After two consecutive fourth place finishes in 2018 and 2019, Garda had an instant impact on the club, leading it to back-to-back league titles in 2020 and 2021. At that point, the hotshot upstart would earn a new type of international experience, continental competition, qualifying for the 2021 and 2022 AFC Cups. Despite going winless in four total matches across both editions, the team earned mostly respectable results in uncharted territory against the top teams from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The back-to-back championships were enough to draw the attention of league officials, players, and members of the media as they voted the Athletic 220 tactician the country's top manager at the MFF Golden Ball Awards following both seasons. During this time, Garidmagnai also served as the MFF’s Assistant Director of Coach Education, working with Director Ganzorig Erdene-Ochir to elevate Mongolia to B-level membership in the Asian Football Confederation.

When Khovd FC was purchased by an ambitious owner and was promoted to the Premier League in 2022, he put his faith behind Garidmagnai to elevate the club to the next level, signing him to a contract in July of that year. While manager of the senior team, he created Khovd's youth system and lead it as its first manager. In October that year, Garda accepted his first national team role as manager of Mongolia's under-17 team for 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification. Mongolia was eliminated with 0-3 and 0-5 defeats to Tajikistan and Afghanistan, respectively.

Four months later, Garidmagnai began the next journey of his coaching career, starting the long process of becoming an AFC Pro-licensed manager. He traveled to Qatar to begin his coursework as a guest of the Qatar Football Association. While taking a hiatus from high-level coaching positions to focus on his training, he served as a Technical Director for the Mongolian Football Federation. Fifteen months later, Garda completed his modules, becoming the first person from Mongolia to earn the Pro License.

With a Pro-Licensed manager in the country, Mongolia no longer has to import foreign coaches to offer A-License courses or to send its coaches to other countries for advanced training.

Bayasgalan Garidmagnai has been Mongolia's best at anything he has put his mind to. Whether his time as the national team's head coach is interim or permanent, there is no doubt that the team is at least for now in safe hands with more success sure to come in the future.