Engin Fırat

Engin Fırat
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
1998–1999	Antalyaspor
2000–2002	Eintracht Frankfurt
2002–2003	Fenerbahçe
2003–2004	LR Ahlen
2004	LR Ahlen
2004–2005	Incheon United
2005	Incheon United
2005–2006	Sivasspor
2006–2007	Saipa
2007–2008	Iran
2008	Kayseri Erciyesspor
2008	Sepahan
2011	Gostaresh
2013–2014	Saipa
2015–2016	Kardemir Karabükspor

Engin Fırat (born 11 June 1970 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a German Turkish head coach who most recently managed Saipa in Iran Pro League.

Early life

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. Firat is a expert in Tactics (a lot of wins in historical Matches ) and a strong Leader.

Managerial career

Early years

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 on the 6th spot, with the highest total points and rank in the club's history.

Eintracht Frankfurt and Fenerbahçe

Between 2000 to 2002, Firat was a member of the technical staff of Fußball-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. Fußball-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 3 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 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 assistant coach, this time at Iran Pro League side, Saipa. As Lorant resigned after 3 month, 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 assistant coach.

Sepahan

After coming to agreement with Ali Daei and the football federation, Firat signed a head coaching job with last seasons 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 resignend on 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 takes as the manager of the 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. Even Saipa won 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 the 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 a 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] In the same time, newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina wrote that Firat is a top candidate as new head coach of Bosnian national team. ^[8]

Firat made a surprise move in June 2015 and accepted a offer from last year UEFA Cup participant Karabükspor as club's general manager.^[9]

Statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	G	W	D	L	Win %
LR Ahlen		July 2004	October 2004	3	1	1	1	033.33
Incheon United		January 2005	June 2005	5	2	2	1	040.00
Kayseri Erciyesspor		January 2008	June 2008	11	6	3	2	054.55
Sepahan		June 2008	September 2008	13	5	5	3	038.46
Gostaresh Foolad		August 2011	October 2011	5	2	2	1	040.00
Saipa		June 2013	June 2014	32	9	14	9	028.13