Kartal Yılmaz

Kartal Yılmaz — Biography

Kartal Kayra Yılmaz is a Turkish footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and is one of the players to have come through the Beşiktaş academy into the first team. The 1.78 m midfielder won the 2024 Süper Kupa with Beşiktaş; besides the Süper Lig he has been in the Ziraat Türkiye Kupası squad, and he continues to play for Beşiktaş.

He began playing football on 6 October 2011 at Kocaeli Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kağıtspor and moved to the Beşiktaş academy on 24 February 2012. He signed his first professional contract in 2019 while in the U19 side and made his professional debut on 24 October 2019 in a 2-1 Europa League defeat by SC Braga. His Süper Lig debut came on 1 February 2020 away at Çaykur Rizespor: he came on in the 83rd minute for Adem Ljajić, and Beşiktaş won 2-1.

In the following years he spent time out on loan. On 21 January 2021 he went to Ümraniyespor and was loaned there again before 2022-23. On 15 September 2023 he was loaned to Kayserispor until the end of 2023-24, and on 9 August 2024 again until the end of 2024-25. In September 2025 he extended his contract with Beşiktaş.