Onur Kaya (born 20 April 1986) is a Belgian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

of Turkish descent who plays as an attacking midfielder for FC Kosova Schaerbeek.

Career

Kaya, who has dual Belgian-Turkish nationality, was born and raised in Brussels, but moved to the youth academy of Dutch Eredivisie club Vitesse in 2002. There, he made his professional debut on 11 February 2006 in the away game against Heerenveen. In May 2006, a few months after his debut, Kaya signed a contract four-year contract extension with Vitesse until the summer of 2010. He played a key role for the team in the following years alongside

Mads Junker Mads Junker (born 21 April 1981) is a Danish football pundit and former footballer who played as a striker. He played seven matches for the Danish national team. During his career, and increasingly after his retirement in 2015, Junker worked a ...

Theo Janssen Theo Janssen (born 27 July 1981) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a midfielder for various clubs in the Netherlands, including Vitesse Arnhem, Twente and Ajax, as well as on loan for Belgian club Genk. He spent 10 years with Vitesse ...

and

Ruud Knol Ruud Knol (born 13 March 1981) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre back. Club career Knol was born in Zevenaar, in the province of Gelderland and star ...

. However, in the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons, Kaya was mainly used as a substitute. In the 2009–10 season, he scored twice in the away match against

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

and thus won a starting spot in the next games. Before the start of the 2010–11 season, Kaya moved to

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

. He immediately suffered relegation to the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Associa ...

with the club in his first season. After one season in the second tier, Charleroi immediately promoted back to the

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 ...

. In the 2012–13 season, he grew out to become the main force in midfield for the club. In January 2014, Kaya signed with

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

. There, however, manager

Peter Maes Peter Maes () (born 1 June 1964) is a Belgian retired footballer turned coach. He is currently unemployed after most recently managing Beerschot VA in the Belgian First Division A. Prior to Lokeren, he also managed KV Mechelen and Genk. until ...

preferred other players in midfield and, partly due to the emerging talent

Hans Vanaken Hans Vanaken (born 24 August 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Belgian Pro League club Club Brugge, whom he captains, and the Belgium national team. Vanaken is well known in Belgium for his prol ...

, Kaya never won a place in the starting eleven. On 8 January 2015, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

. On 18 March 2017, the club won the Belgian Cup, beating Oostende in the final. A penalty shootout after a match with extra time (2–2 after regular time, 3–3 after 120 min) resulted in the second cup win in club history. With this result, Zulte Waregem qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. There, Kaya played his former team Vitesse. On 24 July 2018, Kaya joined

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

on a three-year deal after four seasons with Zulte Waregem. He grew into a team captain at the club. On 24 August 2022, Kaya came out of retirement and joined FC Kosova Schaerbeek in the Belgian sixth tier league.

Career statistics

International career

Kaya was a youth international for Belgium, at the U19 level.

Honours

Lokeren * Belgian Cup: 2013–14 Zulte Waregem * Belgian Cup:

2016-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first conc ...

References

External links

* * 1986 births Living people Belgian footballers Belgium youth international footballers Belgian people of Turkish descent SBV Vitesse players R. Charleroi S.C. players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Eredivisie players Belgian First Division A players Belgian First Division B players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Footballers from Brussels Association football midfielders {{Belgium-footy-midfielder-stub