Mongolian political party launches CS2 tournament requiring Party membership

With the exceptional past few years of The Mongolz, Counter-Strike has taken a major place in Mongolia. Such a major place that even one of the country’s two largest political parties, the Democratic Party of Mongolia, decided to look for new members by organizing its own CS2 tournament. It was specifically the young student members of the party in the Bayanzürkh region, a district of Ulaanbaatar, the country’s capital, who announced the launch of this LAN.

Planned to host up to 200 teams and featuring a prize pool of 20,000,000 Mongolian tugriks, around €5,500, the competition mainly caught attention on social media for one particular requirement. Presented as the “largest LAN tournament in the district’s history”, the event requires every participant to hold a “Democracy Gereg”. In other words, the five players of each team must possess a membership card for the Democratic Party of Mongolia, a way for the party to try to recruit new supporters. A rule that may seem surprising, alongside the minimum age requirement of 18 and the obligation to reside in the district, but one that also reflects the rapid growth of interest in CS in the country.

As the scene continued to rise, following two qualifications for Majors in 2024 and even a first playoff appearance at the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, The Mongolz Counter-Strike team received significant support in 2025. Through a series of official announcements starting in March, the Mongolian lineup was named the “National Team of Mongolia” by Nomin Chinbat, the then minister of Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth. This status goes far beyond symbolic recognition, as it allows the players to receive financial support for international travel, a national athlete salary, and most importantly administrative assistance, particularly regarding visas.

This is a remarkable status on the global stage, where such recognition from governments rarely exists, aside from South Korea and the unique place Lee "" Sang-hyeok holds in the country. In the meantime, The Mongolz notably reached the grand final of the Blast Austin Major 2025 against Team Vitality. They ultimately fell short, but still electrified the nation, with numerous outdoor watch parties organized across Ulaanbaatar, the capital, even though the match took place in the middle of the night in Mongolia.

With a peak close to 100,000 viewers on the local broadcast alone, not counting fans attending watch parties, nearly 3% of the country’s total population, around 3.5 million people, were watching this historic final for them. That number was surpassed just a few weeks later during the Esports World Cup grand final won by the Mongolian players, where nearly 180,000 fans, almost 5% of the population, tuned in, with matches also broadcast outdoors. By the end of 2025, the club was even named “Cultural Envoy of Mongolia” by Battsetseg Batmunkh, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.