Cenk Özkacar (born 6 October 2000) 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 defender for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

, on loan from

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, and the Turkey national team. Mainly a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, he can also play as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Early years in Turkey

Born in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, Özkacar spent his youth career at local teams

Bucaspor Bucaspor was a professional Turkish Association football, football club based in Buca, İzmir. Formed in 1928, Bucaspor were nicknamed Fırtına (Storm). The club colours were yellow and navy. It was dissolved in 2020. History Bucaspor was the ...

, Altinordu and

Altay Altai or Altay may refer to: Places *Altai Mountains, in Central and East Asia, a region shared by China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia In China *Altay Prefecture (阿勒泰地区), Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China *Altay City (阿勒� ...

. He made his professional debut in 2018, while on loan at Karacabey Belediyespor, before returning to Altay the following year.

Lyon

On 18 August 2020, Özkacar joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

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 Eyüpspor. Club career Early career As a youth, Dubois trained with amateur sides Gemmois and ES Segr ...

during a 2–0 loss to

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

Loan to Leuven

On 6 July 2021,

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

team

OH Leuven Oh, OH, or Oh! is an interjection, often proclaiming surprise (emotion), surprise. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * Oh! (Girls' Generation album), ''Oh!'' (Girls' Generation album), 2010 * Oh! (ScoLoHoFo album), ''Oh!'' (S ...

presented Özkacar as new player, on loan from Lyon for one season.

Valencia

In August 2022, Özkacar signed on loan for

side

. On 1 July 2023, the club exercised their buy-option in the loan contract, signing him permanently on a five-year contract. However, Özkacar scored an own-goal in a 1-0 loss against

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

, and only started 35% of matches in La Liga by January 2024, leading some media outlets to report he was seeking a move away in order to make it in Turkey's

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

squad.

Loan to Valladolid

On 29 August 2024, Özkacar was loaned to fellow Spanish top tier side

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

on a one-year deal.

International career

Özkacar has been capped six time 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 The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

match against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, replacing

Ozan Kabak Ozan Muhammed Kabak (born 25 March 2000) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club TSG 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

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Özkacar, Cenk 2000 births Living people Footballers from İzmir Turkish men's footballers Men's association football defenders TFF 1. Lig players TFF Third League players Championnat National 2 players Belgian Pro League players La Liga players Bucaspor footballers Altınordu F.K. players Altay S.K. footballers Karacabey Belediyespor footballers Olympique Lyonnais players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Valencia CF players Real Valladolid players Turkish expatriate men's footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Turkish expatriate sportspeople in France Turkish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain 21st-century Turkish sportsmen Turkey men's under-21 international footballers Turkey men's international footballers