Burak Kaplan

Burak Kaplan — Biography

Burak Kaplan is a Turkish-German former footballer who came through the Bayer 04 Leverkusen academy, scored on his Bundesliga debut and then moved to Beşiktaş. Born in Cologne and standing 1.68 m, he played in midfield as an attacking midfielder or left winger.

He began at SSV Vingst 05 aged four and developed at Leverkusen from 1997, scoring 17 goals in 25 matches in the 2008-09 under-19 league. On 11 December 2009 he scored in a 2-2 draw with Hertha Berlin on his Bundesliga debut and two days later signed a contract running to 2012. In August 2010 he made his first European start against Tavriya Simferopol, and in the winter of 2010-11 he joined Greuther Fürth of the 2. Bundesliga on loan, scoring three goals in six games, two from free kicks.

Beşiktaş announced talks to sign him on 25 April 2011. He spent his first season mostly with the A2 side, made his official debut against Samsunspor on 18 December 2011 and played five league games that year. He was later loaned to Babelsberg 03, Fethiyespor and KFC Uerdingen 05, and in July 2014, when his Beşiktaş contract was dissolved, he joined Wattenscheid 09. He represented Turkey at under-16, under-19 and under-21 level, scoring his first under-21 goal against Belgium on 12 October 2010.