Bilal Yener Arıca (born 28 February 1992) is a Turkish-Dutch

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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Bayburt Özel İdarespor.

Club career

Born 28 February 1992 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, Yener Arıca moved to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, in the Netherlands with his family, where he grew up. He attended the famous

Ajax Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch fo ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

debuting for the D2 youth team in 2003. He has been on the reserve squad for

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

since 2011, and after two seasons on the reserves list he was however unable to break through into the first team, and decided to move to Turkey, signing with

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fini ...

where he was given the number 14 shirt. He made his

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

debut for

against Karabükspor in the 3-1 away loss, coming on as a 53' minute substitute for

Salih Dursun Salih Dursun (born 12 July 1991) is a Turkish footballer who plays as a right back and defensive midfielder for Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Club career Dursun made his Süper Lig debut on 27 August 2012. Though he wasn't a particularly ...

. After a season at Turkish second division Altınordu SK, he returned to Holland in summer 2016 to join

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and hosts home matches ...

Personal life

Yener Arıca was born in

Küçükçekmece Küçükçekmece (; meaning “small-drawer”, from much earlier ''Rhagion'' and ''Küçükçökmece as “little breakdown''" or “''little depression''”, in more ancient times just as Bathonea), is a suburb and district of Istanbul, Turkey ...

to both Turkish parents, with whom he moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

where he grew up. He holds both Turkish and Dutch citizenship, and has yet to make any appearances for either national team.

References

External links

Profile
- Turkish Football Federation

- Voetbal International * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arica, Yener 1992 births Living people People from Küçükçekmece Footballers from Istanbul Dutch sportspeople of Turkish descent Men's association football midfielders Turkish men's footballers Dutch men's footballers Süper Lig players Kayserispor footballers Altınordu F.K. players Almere City FC players Eerste Divisie players