Emre Kaplan

Emre Kaplan — Biography

Emre Kaplan is a left-back who came through the İstanbul Başakşehir academy. He was part of the squad for the 2019-20 season in which the club won the Süper Lig, and in the years that followed he played on loan from Başakşehir at lower-division clubs. Born in the Elmadağ district of Ankara, he represented Azerbaijan at youth level before switching to the Turkey under-21 team.

He began playing in his home town of Elmadağ, in the youth setup of Elmadağ Belediyesi Gençlikspor, and then played in the junior sides of MKE Ankaragücü. In 2018 he transferred to the İstanbul Başakşehir academy. He played his first official match for Başakşehir in the Turkish Cup on 4 December 2019 and was promoted to the first team in 2020. In 2019-20 he won the Süper Lig with the club. On 29 January 2021 he was loaned to Bodrumspor for half a season and played 14 league matches there. Later he played on loan at clubs such as Ümraniyespor and Bandırmaspor.

Having been born and raised in Turkey, Kaplan accepted the invitation of Azerbaijan's youth national teams; he played for Azerbaijan at under-19 and under-21 level before switching to the Turkey under-21 team.