Edwin Ronald "Eddie" Firmani was born 7th August, 1933 in Cape Town, South Africa. Eddie played as a centre or inside forward. He joined English team Charlton Athletic in 1950 and became a regular goal scorer, including scoring five goals in a 6–1 win against Aston Villa in 1955. At the time the Charlton team included several South Africans, Hewie, O'Linn and Ufton. During his first spell with Charlton he married Pat Robinson, daughter of the club's assistant manager.
Later in 1955 he moved to Italian team Sampdoria for £35,000, which at the time was a record transfer fee involving a British club, beginning an eight year spell in Italy when he gained 3 caps for the Italian national team, qualifying for the national team as his grandfather was Italian. He also played for Internazionale and Genoa.
He returned to England in 1963, linking up again with Charlton. After two years he moved to Southend United but returned to The Valley for a third spell two seasons later. In total, he made 177 appearances for the Addicks, scoring 89 goals. In recognition of his talents, he was named as Charlton's greatest overseas player in 2005. Firmani is the only man ever to have scored 100 League goals in both England and Italy.
In 1967, Eddie was appointed Charlton manager and retired as a player. In his second season in charge, Charlton finished third in the Second Division just missing out on promotion. He was fired in March 1970 with the Addicks battling against relegation to the Third Division.
On July 24th, 1974, Eddie became the Head Coach of the Rowdies for the 1975 season, leading them to their first Championship, even came out of retirement to make an 18 minute substitute appearance in their first home game against the Rochester Lancers, aged 42.
He was named the NASL coach of the year in 1976, on June 3rd, 1976 he resigned for "personal reasons" leaving the Rowdies in a state of uncertainty. He took control of the New York Cosmos for the 1977 season. He helped the Cosmos to a Soccer Bowl '78 win over the Rowdies at Giants Stadium.
In 1980, he took charge of the Philadelphia Fury and followed the team to Canada, when they became the Montreal Manic in 1981. He took charge of the Cosmos again for their last season in the NASL in 1984.
He later managed Canadian side Montreal Impact in 1993 and Major League Soccer side New York/New Jersey MetroStars in 1996.
In 1960 Firmani wrote a volume of autobiography "Football with the Millionaires", which provides an interesting contrast between the lifestyle of Italian footballers and their English counterparts in the era of the maximum wage.
Today, Eddie is enjoying his retirement in Florida.
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