AFC - AFC Champions League
2007 runners-up Sepahan have appointed Turkey’s Engin Firat as their head
coach on Thursday.
The Isfahan-based outfit had parted ways with Brazilian Jorvan Vieira
following their dismal show this season.
Sepahan failed to clear the group stage of the AFC Champions League this
year, were defeated in the Hazfi Cup quarter-finals, and lost the Iran Pro
League title on the last day of the tournament after going down to
Persepolis 2-1.
“We have signed a one-year contract with Firat, with an option to increase
it to three years. Firat will also bring in one Turkish assistant coach in a
few days,” club’s Managing Director Mohammad Reza Saket told Iranian Fars
news agency.
Thirty-eight year old Firat served as assistant coach in Iran’s successful
FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers third round campaign. He was an assistant
coach in Turkish club Sivasspor before joining Saipa in 2006 in the same
position.
Meanwhile, Iran Football Federation has announced that national team head
coach Ali Daei will select Firat’s replacement before the start of FIFA
World Cup fourth round qualifiers.
