Engin Firat (born 11 June 1970) is a Turkish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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and former player.

Coaching career

Sepahan

After coming to an agreement with Ali Daei and the Iran football federation, Firat signed a head coaching job with the previous season's runner up and

Asian Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

finalist

Sepahan Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club (, ''Bâšgâh-e Farhangi-Varzeši-ye Fulâd-e Mobârake-ye Sepâhân''), commonly known as Sepahan, is an Iranian sports club based in Isfahan. It is best known for their football section that play in the P ...

. Firat was among the candidates to become head coach of

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

to lead the team in

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, a job he rejected. Firat was honoured with an award, as best Turkish coach abroad, by Celik Bilek Ödülleri in Turkey. In the next years Firat was active in the Coaching Education of Iranian Coaches.

Gostaresh Foolad

After

Luka Bonačić Luka Bonačić (; born 21 March 1955) is a Croatian football coach and former professional player. Early life He was born in Split, Croatia that was then part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He began his football career at the Spli ...

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 the first twelve matches but resigned in October 2011. After he left Iran, he got offers from Galati (Romania), Rizespor and Konyaspor (Turkey), which he refused.

Later careers

In November 2014, Firat was offered the assistant coach position by

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

. He refused to work with head coach

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian former football coach and former player. Playing career Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game for Juventus was in the 1979–80 Eur ...

. At the time, newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina wrote that Firat was a top candidate for the new head coach of Bosnian national team. In 2016 Fırat was chosen as vice president of the TÜFAD Europe (European Turkish Coaches Association).

Moldova

On 28 October 2019, Fırat was announced as the new manager of the Moldova national team.

Kenya

He took charge of the Kenyan men's national team on 7 October 2021. In March 2024, Kenya won the

4 Nations Cup The 4 Nations Cup is an annual women's ice hockey tournament, held between four major national teams in the sport; currently, these are Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland. Until 2000, when Sweden joined, the tournament was the 3 Natio ...

held in Malawi. Kenya beat hosts

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

4-0 and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

3-1 in the final.

Honours

* Best Turkish Coach abroad: 2009

References

* https://www.pulsesports.co.ke/football/story/firat-explains-logic-behind-harambee-stars-friendly-matches-against-big-nations-2023123110144621668 * https://iha.news/kenyas-football-rises-under-coach-engin-firat/

External links

Firat's website

ENGİN FIRAT’A SÜRPRİZ TEKLİF haberi – 24.02.2010 10:25
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firat, Engin 1970 births Living people Footballers from Istanbul Turkish football managers German football managers Association football coaches German sportspeople of Turkish descent Turkish emigrants to West Germany Expatriate football managers in Iran German expatriate football managers Eintracht Frankfurt non-playing staff Rot Weiss Ahlen managers 3. Liga managers Incheon United FC managers Kayseri Erciyesspor managers Sepahan S.C. managers Turkish expatriate football managers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Iran Moldova national football team managers Kenya national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Moldova Expatriate football managers in South Korea German expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Persian Gulf Pro League managers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in South Korea German expatriate sportspeople in Iran People from Aurich Sportspeople from Lower Saxony Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Kenya Expatriate football managers in Kenya German expatriate sportspeople in Kenya German expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Turkish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Albania