Cenk Özkacar (born 6 October 2000) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a defender for La Liga club Valencia, on loan from Lyon. He also plays for the Turkey national team.

Club career

Born in İzmir, Özkacar spent his youth career at local teams Bucaspor, Altinordu and Altay. He made his professional debut in 2018, while on loan at

Karacabey Belediyespor Karacabey Belediyespor is a football club from the Karacabey district of the Bursa Province. History Nilüfer was the place were the club was founded as ''Nilüfer Belediyespor'' in 1999. The football branch split up in 2008 to become ''Bur ...

, before returning to Altay the following year. On 18 August 2020, Özkacar joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club Lyon on a five-year deal. On 21 April 2021, he made his debut for Lyon as a late substitute for

Léo Dubois Léo Michel Joseph Claude Dubois (; born 14 September 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Süper Lig club İstanbul Başakşehir. Early life Dubois' father Jean-Pierre was born in Lebanon, and was adopted ...

during a 2–0 loss to Monaco in the Coupe de France. On 6 July 2021,

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

team

OH Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, ''D ...

presented Özkacar as new player, on loan from Lyon for one season. In August 2022, Özkacar signed on loan for La Liga side Valencia.

International career

Özkacar has been capped by the Turkey U21s. He had his first cap with the Turkey senior national team on 8 June 2022, getting subbed on in the UEFA Nations League match against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, replacing

Ozan Kabak Ozan Muhammed Kabak (born 25 March 2000) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club 1899 Hoffenheim and the Turkey national team. Club career Galatasaray Ozan trained with the Galatasaray youth academy, ...

in the 76th minute. He managed to help his team keeping the clean sheet and ended up winning 6–0.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Özkacar, Cenk 2000 births Living people Footballers from İzmir Turkish footballers Association football defenders TFF First League players TFF Third League players Championnat National 2 players Belgian Pro League players Bucaspor footballers Altınordu F.K. players Altay S.K. footballers Karacabey Belediyespor footballers Olympique Lyonnais players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Valencia CF players Turkish expatriate footballers Turkey youth international footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Turkish expatriate sportspeople in France Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain