Engin Fırat

Engin Fırat — Biography

Engin Fırat was a Turkish coach who spent most of his career abroad, working in countries from Germany and Iran to Moldova and Kenya. Starting out as an assistant at Samsunspor, he held posts at clubs and teams including Fenerbahçe, Eintracht Frankfurt, the Iran national team and Sepahan, and was honoured as the best Turkish coach working abroad. He died in Istanbul on 9 March 2026.

He began playing football at ten. His professional coaching career began in 1997, at 27, as assistant to Horst Hrubesch at Samsunspor. From 2000 to 2002 he was an assistant to Martin Andermatt at Eintracht Frankfurt. In 2002-03 he was assistant to Werner Lorant at Fenerbahçe, then moved with Lorant to LR Ahlen in the German 2. Bundesliga, where he took charge for three matches. Afterwards he worked at Sivasspor, Saipa and Kayseri Erciyesspor.

In 2008 he became Ali Daei's assistant with the Iran national team; the same year he took over at Sepahan but left after poor results. He was appointed at Gostaresh Foolad in August 2011 and at Saipa in 2013. He was named Moldova's national team coach on 28 October 2019 and left on 31 December 2020; on 7 October 2021 he took over the Kenya national team and won the four-nation tournament in Malawi in March 2024. He also worked in Lebanon at Nejmeh. In April 2010 he had been named best Turkish coach abroad at the Çelik Bilek Awards.