İsmail Yüksek

İsmail Yüksek — Biography

İsmail Yüksek is a defensive midfielder for Fenerbahçe and the Turkey national team. He broke through with Gölcükspor in the Third League and, after loan spells, became one of the regular players in the yellow-and-navy side; he was in the squad for the 2024 European Championship and was named in the 26-man list for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Raised in the Bursaspor youth system, Yüksek signed his first professional contract with Gölcükspor on 28 August 2018 and drew attention in 2019-20 with 8 goals in 27 league matches. In May 2020 he signed a five-year contract with Fenerbahçe and was loaned to Balıkesirspor, Adana Demirspor and Bursaspor; with Adana Demirspor he won the 2020-21 First League title. At the start of 2022-23 head coach Jorge Jesus kept him in the squad; he scored his first Fenerbahçe goal on 26 August 2022 in the Europa League play-off return leg against Austria Wien and finished the season by winning the Turkish Cup, his first trophy.

In 2023-24, under İsmail Kartal, he formed the main midfield pair with Fred; the team collected 99 league points and reached the Conference League quarter-finals. His playing time fell under Mourinho, and under Domenico Tedesco he was a regular again in 2025-26; on 2 November 2025, away at Beşiktaş, his first league goal in the 32nd minute pulled the side back from 2-0 down to a 3-2 win. He never played for Turkey's youth teams before being called up to the senior side, and on 22 September 2022 he scored his first international goal six minutes after coming on against Luxembourg.