Tolunay Kafkas

Tolunay Kafkas — Biography

Tolunay Kafkas was one of Turkish football's central midfielders of the 1990s, winning trophies with Trabzonspor and Galatasaray, and as a coach he became known for bringing Kayserispor the Turkish Cup. He now comments on matches and the transfer market in football broadcasts.

He began as a player at PTT and Keçiörengücü, moved through Diyarbakırspor, Erzurumspor and Konyaspor, and reached Trabzonspor, where he spent the best years of his career and won the 1994-95 Turkish Cup. At Galatasaray he took the league and cup in 1998-99, then played for Bursaspor and Denizlispor. From 2002 he turned out for Pasching, LASK and Admira Wacker in Austria and retired in 2005. After his debut against Italy in December 1994 he went on to make 35 appearances for Turkey and was part of the squad at UEFA Euro 1996.

He started coaching at Kayserispor in 2007: in his first season he won the cup and finished fifth in the league with 55 points, a club record. He took Gaziantepspor to fourth place in 2010-11, worked as the federation's development director, and briefly managed Trabzonspor in 2013. He led Kardemir Karabükspor into the club's first European campaign, which ended in a penalty shoot-out defeat to Saint-Étienne in the play-off round. Later stops were a second spell at Kayserispor, Akhisar Belediyespor, the Turkey under-21 side from 2020 to 2023, Ankaragücü and Fatih Karagümrük.