ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) – Not every day that a 31-year-old gets ushered into the head coach position of the country’s National league champions. And certainly not every day he helms the team to an immediate victory in the quest to retain that championship.
Reigning Mongolian The League champions Broncos chose to not extend their erstwhile coach Zeljko Vasiljevic instead promoting Ariunbold Erdene to the hot seat, in a move that set tongues wagging in certain quarters within the country. But the coach silenced those tongues in the best possible way, by leading Broncos to a 4-3 win over Selenge in the Semi-Finals and into the title round for the second successive time.
The euphoria of the initial and immediate success notwithstanding, Erdene has his sights well set on the next and higher level of competition – the BCL Asia – East, where they will line up for their first game of the 2025 season against New Taipei Kings at the latter’s home court.
“It is a big challenge for me to get promoted to head coach in the middle of our league,” Erdene said.
“We just completed the Semi-Finals and as we prepare for the Finals in our domestic league, we are making preparation for the BCL Asia-East as well. Our goal is to move forward to the next level in the BCL.” he added.
Broncos are not new to BCL Asia-East. Nor have they never tasted success.
Last year, in its BCL Asia Qualifiers form of competition, Broncos did well to fight their way through a tough opening round before bowing out in the Qualification play-offs.
Incidentally, two of the three opponents for Broncos in Group B this year are familiar – Hi-Tech of Thailand whom they lost to last year and Adroit of Singapore whom they defeated.
“This year is so different. Because last year right we did not have any experience of BCL Asia games,” the coach said. “But our system has been gradually getting better compared to last season.”
The trip to Taipei will be the Broncos’ first ever game on foreign soil. Earlier this BCL Asia-East 2025 season fellow country club Bishrelt Metal became the first ever Mongolian club to play a game on international soil when they played against NS Matrix in the Malaysian Window.
“The opportunity to play in BCL Asia is a boon for Mongolian clubs,” Erdene said.
“Basketball is already the number one sport in Mongolia. The support we have all round is unimaginable,” he added.
“We are aware the best way to return the support of our fans is by us winning games. And that is exactly we aim to do,” he said.
Click here for Broncos’ schedule.
FIBA