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 0–6 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]
^"ENGIN FIRAT, NOUL SELECȚIONER AL MOLDOVEI" [Engin Fırat, the new coach of Moldova]. fmf.md (in Romanian). Moldovan Football Federation. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
