Ahmetcan Kaplan

Ahmetcan Kaplan — Biography

Ahmetcan Kaplan is a young 1.89 m Turkish centre-back who came through the Trabzonspor academy. After winning the Süper Lig with Trabzonspor he moved to Ajax of the Netherlands in 2022, and in August 2026 he signed a four-year contract with NEC Nijmegen. Capped by Turkey at youth level, he was named in Turkey's 26-man squad for UEFA Euro 2024.

He started out in the Trabzonspor academy in 2013 and signed his first professional contract with the club on 10 August 2020. He made his Süper Lig debut on 27 September 2021 in a 1-1 draw with Alanyaspor and went on to win the 2021-22 Süper Lig and the 2022 Super Cup with Trabzonspor. In August 2022 he joined Ajax for a reported fee of around 9.5 million euros on a five-year deal.

Kaplan was loaned to NEC Nijmegen for the 2025-26 season in August 2025. In October 2025 he said he had at one point considered returning to Turkey, and in February 2026 he said that he had received an offer from Turkey but turned it down. NEC then signed him permanently for a transfer fee of 2.5 million euros. Internationally he played for Turkey at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 level.