Ercan Kara

Ercan Kara — Biography

Ercan Kara is an Austrian forward of Turkish descent whose path ran from the lower divisions of Vienna to the Austrian Bundesliga, and from there to the United States and Turkey. His height of 1.92 metres and acrobatic ability led coach Dietmar Kühbauer to compare him to Zlatan Ibrahimović, and fans nicknamed him "Karabrimovic". He plays for Rapid Wien and the Austria national team.

Kara came through the Slovan HAC youth system and made his first-team debut aged 15 in the fourth-tier Wiener Stadtliga. After two seasons with limited playing time at Austria Wien II, he joined Karabakh Wien (renamed FC Mauerwerk in 2018) in 2016. In his first season there he was the Wiener Stadtliga top scorer with 35 goals, and the team won the title and promotion to the Regionalliga Ost, where he then topped the scoring charts in the next two seasons as well. In July 2019 he joined SV Horn of the 2. Liga, scored 13 goals in 16 appearances, and moved on to Rapid Wien.

In January 2022 he moved to Orlando City and won the U.S. Open Cup that year. On 2 September 2023 he joined Süper Lig side Samsunspor. He returned to Rapid Wien on loan on 6 February 2025 and permanently on 1 July 2025. Although eligible to play for Turkey, he chose Austria; Franco Foda first called him up in March 2021, and he made his debut on 31 March 2021 against Denmark, replacing Xaver Schlager.