Engin Fırat

Engin Fırat
	Fırat in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Engin Fırat
Date of birth	11 June 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth	Istanbul, Turkey
Managerial career
Years	Team
1997–1998	Samsunspor (assistant)
1998–1999	Antalyaspor (assistant)
2000–2002	Eintracht Frankfurt (coach)
2002–2003	Fenerbahçe (assistant)
2003–2004	LR Ahlen (assistant)
2004	LR Ahlen
2004–2005	Incheon United (assistant)
2005	Incheon United
2005–2006	Sivasspor (assistant)
2006–2007	Saipa (assistant)
2007–2008	Iran (assistant)
2008	Kayseri Erciyesspor
2008	Sepahan
2011	Gostaresh
2013–2014	Saipa
2015–2017	Kardemir Karabükspor (sporting director)
2017	Dallas City FC (sporting director)
2018–2019	Vllaznia Shkodër (sporting director)
2019–2021	Moldova
2021–	Kenya

Engin Firat (born 11 June 1970) is a Turkish former football player and football manager who is currently head coach of the Kenya national team.

Early life and playing career

Biography

Firat was born on 11 June 1970 in Istanbul. He began his football career when he was 10. After retiring as player, he started his very successful coaching career. He is known as a coach with a lot of international experience and success.

Playing career

Firat graduated from Sports University in Germany. He started his professional career as an assistant coach for German legend Horst Hrubesch in Samsunspor in 1997. This made Firat the youngest professional football coach in Europe. Samsunspor finished the season with an excellent 5th place in Süper Lig. As a 27-year-old in pro-soccer, he quickly earned his respect with the club and the players. So it was no surprise when Hrubesch was sent by the club, Firat was asked to stay and become the assistant coach of new head coach, Joseph Jaranbinsky from the Czech Republic. The next season Jarabinsky and Firat joined league rivals Antalyaspor. They finished a very successful season in the 6th spot, with the highest total points and rank in the club's history.

Managerial career

Eintracht Frankfurt and Fenerbahçe

Between 2000 and 2002, Firat was a member of the technical staff of Bundesliga team Eintracht Frankfurt. He also did scouting for the team. Firat joined Turkish giants Fenerbahçe S.K., as an assistant coach of German head coach Werner Lorant in 2002. They finished 2nd in the league and their historical 6–0 win over rivals, Galatasaray was the highlight of the season.

LR Ahlen

In January 2003, Lorant and Firat took over 2. Bundesliga side, LR Ahlen. The team was 17th at the beginning of the second half of the season finished far away from the relegation spots. They ranked 5th on the 2nd half of the season ranking. After Lorant was resigned as the club head coach, Firat became head coach for three games, that made him only the second Turkish head coach in German Bundesliga history, after Mustafa Denizli.

Incheon United

In 2004, Lorant and Firat joined the newly founded south-Korean Pro team Incheon United. Due to family reasons Firat left the team after pre-season camp but was returned to the club one month later and also guided the team in five matches.

Return to Turkey

At the start of the 2005–06 season, Lorant and Firat took over the Turkish side, Sivasspor. Sivasspor just went up from 2nd division and the coaching duo managed to create the most interesting team that season and they finished at a very surprising 8th place. Also, they won the Cup of the Republic' during pre-season.

Saipa and Iranian national team

Firat was once again worked with Lorant as an assistant coach, this time at Iran Pro League side, Saipa. As Lorant resigned after three months, despite leading the league, the club offered Firat to continue his work as the new head coach. Saipa took the boost from the league-lead and finished the season as surprising champions of the IPL. In March 2008, Ali Daei was appointed as the head coach of Iran national football team and asked Firat to become his First coach. In his time the Iranian National team never lost any match.

Sepahan

After coming to agreement with Ali Daei and the football federation, Firat signed a head coaching job with last season's runner up and Asian Champions League finalist Sepahan.^[1]

Firat was among the candidates to become head coach of Nigeria to lead the team in 2010 FIFA World Cup, a job he rejected.^[2] Engin Firat just recently was honoured with an award, as best Turkish coach abroad, by Celik Bilek Ödülleri in Turkey.^[3] In the next years Firat was active in the Coaching Education of Iranian Coaches.^[4]

Gostaresh Foolad

After Luka Bonačić resigned to become the head coach of Sepahan, Firat was appointed as the club head coach for 2011–12 season. Firat led the team in first twelve matches but resigned in October 2011. After Firat left Iran he got offers from Galati (Romania), Rizespor and Konyaspor (Turkey) which he refused.^[5]^[6]

Return to Saipa as head coach

On 11 May 2013, it was announced that Firat will act as the manager of Saipa for the upcoming season. His first match as manager of Saipa was a 1–1 draw over Damash Gilan. In this season he created a new generation of young talented players. Saipa even won for the first time in the club history at home against powerhouse Persepolis. He led Saipa with the lowest budget and the youngest team in the league to 8th place, which was the best result in the last seven years for Saipa. Firat got a lot of offers to stay in Iran and some lucrative offers from UAE Pro-League, but in the last weeks of the league he got an Achilles tendon rupture in the training. Therefore, he decided to rest for a while.

Later careers

In November 2014, Firat was offered the assistant coach position by Galatasaray. Firat refused to work with head coach Cesare Prandelli.^[7] At the same time, newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina wrote that Firat is a top candidate as new head coach of Bosnian national team.^[8]

In 2016 Fırat was chosen as Vice President of the TÜFAD Europe (European Turkish Coaches Association).^[9]

From 2018, Firat took over Vllaznia Shkoder as sports director. The team came back to the successful days of their history.

Moldova

On 28 October 2019, Fırat was announced as the new manager of the Moldova national team.^[10] His first match was a 1–2 loss to France in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying. He oversaw Moldova in 2020-21 Nations League, which placed last in its group. Between the Nations League fixtures Moldova played two friendlies, a goalless draw with Russia and a 6–0 defeat to Italy which equalled Moldova's worst defeat at the time. He left the position in 2021.

Kenya

He took charge of the Kenyan men's national team on 7 October 2021. In March 2024 Kenya won the 4 Nations Cup held in Malawi. Kenya beat hosts Malawi 4-0 and Zimbabwe 3-1 in the final.^[11]

Statistics

As of matches played until 19 November 2024

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	G	W	D	L	Win %
LR Ahlen	Germany	July 2004	October 2004	3	1	1	1	033.33
Incheon United	South Korea	January 2005	June 2005	8	5	2	1	062.50
Kayseri Erciyesspor	Turkey	January 2008	June 2008	11	6	3	2	054.55
Sepahan	Iran	June 2008	September 2008	14	7	4	3	050.00
Gostaresh Foolad	Iran	August 2011	October 2011	7	4	2	1	057.14
Moldova	Moldova	October 2019	November 2020	11	0	2	9	000.00
Kenya	Kenya	September 2021		26	11	7	8	042.31