İsmail Yüksek (born 26 January 1999) is a Turkish 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

side Fenerbahçe and the Turkey national team.

Club career

Youth and Gölcükspor

Yüksek began his youth career with hometown club

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

and also played in youth level with Bursa Merinosspor, Yeşil Bursa, Yıldırım Belediyespor and Bursa Yıldırımspor. He started his professional career with

Gölcükspor Gölcük Spor Kulübü, commonly referred to as Gölcükspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Gölcük, Kocaeli. The club was founded in 1984 with the merger of Dumlupınar Youth Club (Amateur Gölcükspor and Dumlupınar You ...

and played two successful season with them.

Fenerbahçe

Yüksek signed five-year contract with Fenerbahçe on 2 May 2020.

Loans

On 5 October 2020, Yüksek joined

Balıkesirspor Balıkesirspor is a Turkish sports club, club based in Balıkesir. Established in 1966, the Association football, football team played in the Süper Lig after achieving promotion having finished as runners-up of the TFF First League in 2013–14 T ...

on loan. He returned to Fenerbahçe on 12 January 2021. Yüksek made his professional debut with Fenerbahçe in a 3–1

win over

MKE Ankaragücü MKE Ankaragücü or fully Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü (), is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Ankara. The football team wears a yellow and navy kit and plays its home matches at Eryaman Stadium following the ...

on 18 January 2021. On 1 February 2021, he joined

Adana Demirspor Adana Demirspor Kulübü is a multi-sports club based in Adana, Turkey. The football department is the most popular department which relegated to TFF 1. Lig on 16 March 2025 after 4 seasons at the Super Lig. Founded by railway workers of Turk ...

on loan in the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

for the second half of the 2020–21 season. He went on loan to

for the 2021–22 season.

2022–23 season

After return to Fenerbahçe, Yüksek made a very strong start to the 2022–23 season with coach

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. Most recently he was the manager of Saudi Professional League, Saudi P ...

, made good use of his first 11 chances and called to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. On 6 October, he was selected

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

by supporters votes for his performance in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League Group B third week

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition (ancient state), Kition of Larnaca") is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional association football, football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EP ...

match. On 20 January 2023, Fenerbahçe announced to sign new contract with him until May 2027.

2023–24 season

In his second season as a starter in the team, he made his top performance with new coach and team's local legend

İsmail Kartal İsmail Kartal (born 15 June 1961), colloquially known by the given nickname "Arap İsmail" due to his tanned skin, is a Turkish professional football manager and former player who recently was the manager of Persian Gulf Pro League club Persep ...

, he consolidate his place with Fenerbahçe and international team. He changed his shirt number from 80 to 5.

2024–25 season

On 20 December 2024, he made his 100th appearances in all competitions for Fenerbahçe against

Eyüpspor Eyüpspor Kulübü, known as ikas Eyüpspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional association football, football club located in the Eyüpsultan district of Istanbul. Their colours are lavender and yellow. Their home ground is Eyü ...

in a 1-1

away tie.

International career

Without any youth international experience, Yüksek made his international debut against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

on 22 September 2022, coming on as an 81st minute substitute and he scored his first goal six minutes later. He wasn't selected to the Turkey youth national teams and directly played for senior level. On 12 October 2023, he has become the first player to record 15+ duels and 10+ possessions won in a single Euro 2024 qualifier game, winning 16 duels and recovering 12 possessions against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Style of play

Yüksek is a talented, tenacious, and physically strong, all-round box-to-box midfielder, who is capable of defending well, due to his vision, technique, aggressive tackling, athletic attributes, stamina, and his powerful and accurate shot from distance with his right foot. A versatile, powerful, and hard-working player, he is capable of playing center and defensive midfield position, and adapting himself to several different formations, but usually operated in the centre of the pitch.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results show Turkey's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yüksek goal.''

Honours

Adana Demirspor * TFF 1. Lig:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Fenerbahçe *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuksek, Ismail 1999 births Living people People from İznik Footballers from Bursa Province Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's international footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Balıkesirspor footballers Adana Demirspor footballers Bursaspor footballers Gölcükspor footballers Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players TFF Third League players Men's association football midfielders UEFA Euro 2024 players 21st-century Turkish sportsmen