The Harambee Stars have been effectively bundled out of the Qatar World Cup qualification by Mali. After a 5-0 hiding on October 7, yesterday’s one-nil loss to the Eagles finally sealed the fate of the Harambee Stars’ World Cup hopes and they’ll now have to shift their focus to the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.It’s interesting that the match, which was supposed to be a home game for Mali, was staged in Morocco owing to political instability in Bamako. But leading up to the encounter, much of the talk surrounding the game was about Engin Firat, the Harambee Stars coach.See, The Turkish tactician had just taken over the reins 2 weeks prior after the previous coach, Jacob “Ghost” Mulee had parted ways with the Harambee Stars by mutual consent. Firat was then brought in on a bizarre two-month contract.The Engine in Harambee stars will be accelerated by new coach Firat Engin, I hope we will go to promised land in football here in Kenya with him— Mr Mûgaka🤵 (@MrMugaka_Ke) October 11, 2021 Surprisingly, Jacob Mulee’s predecessor, Francis Kimanzi, had also ended his duties as Harambee Stars head coach, by mutual consent.Mulee will be fondly remembered as the first African coach to lead the Harambee Stars to the AFCON finals, though Jonathan Niva was a player coach at the 1972 showing.Not that the country has had much luck in the competition. In its entirety, the Harambee Stars has graced Africa’s premier competition just 6 times. Failing to make it past the group stage on all three occasions.Firat’s appointed which was to a huge extent shrouded in mystery, firmly shone the limelight on him. But not many on the continent will be too familiar with the name. We have therefore taken to the interwebs to find out more about the 51-year-old.Early life and Coaching BadgesFirat was born in June, 1970 in Istanbul, Turkey. He took to football at an early age and played for a few years. After realizing that he preferred the managerial side of the game, he retired early and then moved to Cologne to attend the German Sport University.Nick Mwendwa says #HarambeeStars coach Engin Firat, whose tenure at Moldova was disastrous, is a TOP coach and is best suited to manage #Kenya.#WCQ #WorldCupQualifier #TheGamePlan pic.twitter.com/orp4QcoeMf— Jerry Owilli 🇰🇪 (@JerryOwilli) October 11, 2021 After graduation, he served under German football legend Horst Hurbesch as the assistant coach at Samsunspor. This made Firat the youngest football coach in Europe at the time. Horst later left the club but Firat stayed on and deputized the new coach, Joseph Jaranbinsky.The duo later left after a single season to join Antalyaspor in the Turkish super Lig for the 1998/1999 season. Firat and his Czech boss led the Antatlya-based club to a 6th place finish which to date has been the club’s best performance since its inception. They also recorded the highest points tally in Antalyaspor’s history.Engin Firat is also an accomplished scout. Between 2000 and 2002, he was part of Eintracht Frankfurt’s scouting network and also served as one of the coaches.In 2002, he resumed his assistant coach duties under Werner Lorant at Fenerbahçe. They finished second in the Super Lig, enjoying a memorable 6-0 win over perennial rivals Galatasaray.Just to highlight how big this was, there has only been a single occasion since 2002 when a match between the two rivals produced more than four goals. This was in the 2008/2009 season when Fenerbahçe won 4-1.Lower-ranked teams and the Iranian National TeamFirat and Lorant took over the German side, LR Ahlen, in January 2003. They helped the Bundesliga 2 club ward off relegation fears by rising from position 17 to finish 5th in the table. Lorant later resigned with three games to the end of the campaign, paving the way for Firat to be installed as boss. Making the Turk only the second of his nationality to lead a Bundesliga club.Firat later moved to South Korea in 2004 as the head coach of South Korean Pro League club Incheon United, but left soon after, citing family reasons. In 2005 he was re-united with Lorant in the Super Lig as the assistant coach of newly-promoted side, Sivasspor. They went on to finish 8th in the 2005/2006 season and also won a pre-season trophy.The two later moved to Asia to work at Saipa F.C. in the Iranian Pro League. However, after just three months, Lorant resigned once again and Firat was promoted to head coach. He proceeded to clinch the 2006-2007 IPL title.In 2008 when Ali Daei was appointed as the boss of the Iranian national team, he brought in Engin Firat as his number 2.Head CoachFirat eventually went on to coach Kayseri Erciyesspor, Sepahan, Gostaresh, and Saipa between 2008 and 2014. During this period, he was instrumental in promoting advanced coach training in Iran.Between 2015 and 2017, he served as the sporting director for Turkish outfit Kayseri Erciyesspor and Dallas FC in the American NPSL.Harambee Stars and MoldovaOn October, 28 2019, Firat was appointed as the manager of the Moldovan football team. He presided over a disastrous 11-game run without a win. It should however be noted that, together with the likes of Andorra, the European minnows have been customary losers all through. Moldova is currently ranked a lowly 180 by FIFA.In September 2021 he was appointed manager of the Harambee Stars. He has so far overseen two consecutive losses against Mali.Honors and AchievementsBelow are the achievements of the current Harambee Stars boss since he embarked on a coaching journey.As assistant managerFenerbahçe Super Lig: 2001–02 (second place)Sivasspor TFF First League: 2005–06Saipa Iran Pro League: 2006–07Iran WAFF Championship: 2008As sports directorTFF 1. League: 2015–16 (Champion)As head coachIran Pro League: 4th place finish 2008-09 (qualified for the Asian Champions League)Best Turkish Coach abroad: 2009, 2011What’s next for Firat and the Harambee Stars?It’s safe to say that following the humiliating loss to Mali, Engin Firat has not exactly endeared himself to the Kenyan football faithful.Harambee Stars fans can be a hard bunch to please and it remains to be seen whether the Kenyan FA will stick by its man now that the most vocal supporters are baying for blood.
