Barış Ekincier

Barış Ekincier — Biography

Barış Ekincier is a midfielder who grew up in Germany, played for Azerbaijan's youth national teams and now plays in Turkey. Of Turkish descent, he moved from the Bochum academy into professional football; in January 2026 he scored three goals for Ümraniyespor against Serikspor, and in July 2026 he signed a two-year contract with Elazığspor.

Born in Hemer in North Rhine-Westphalia, he began in the youth teams of FC Iserlohn and Rot-Weiss Essen. He joined the VfL Bochum academy in 2017 and in August that year played for the first team in a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen. In June 2018 he signed his first professional contract with Bochum, running to June 2020. On 19 August 2018 he came on as a substitute in the first round of the DFB-Pokal away at Weiche Flensburg, and on 5 April 2019 he made his 2. Bundesliga debut off the bench against Jahn Regensburg. In July 2019 he joined SK Austria Klagenfurt in Austria.

In Turkey he joined Şanlıurfaspor in July 2023 and left in May 2024, and later played for Ümraniyespor. For Azerbaijan he was in the squad for the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, which the country hosted, and played in the team's first two matches; he later represented the country at under-19 and under-21 level too.