Batuhan Karadeniz

Batuhan Karadeniz — Biography

Batuhan Karadeniz is a former striker who, at 16 years and 123 days, scored for Beşiktaş against Gaziantepspor to become the youngest goalscorer in Süper Lig history, a record Enes Ünal later took from him. His father, Orhan Karadeniz, is a former Beşiktaş goalkeeper; after leaving the game he also worked as a pundit.

He began at İçerenköy İdman Yurdu at ten, won a place in Beşiktaş's trials and scored 226 goals in 86 youth matches. His first first-team season, 2007-08, brought 17 appearances and two goals. On loan at Eskişehirspor he scored eight times in 14 league matches, joined the club permanently in 2010 and scored ten in 37 matches in 2011-12. He was then loaned back to Beşiktaş for a season, agreed terms with Trabzonspor in 2013, played on loan at Elazığspor and moved to Sivasspor; his Süper Lig journey ended after 2015-16. In 2016 he went to FC St. Gallen for a short spell in Switzerland; after Şanlıurfaspor he played for clubs such as Sakaryaspor, Bandırmaspor and Vanspor in the lower leagues. Between 2017 and 2022 he played in First League and Second League play-offs for four different clubs, was Second League play-off top scorer three times and retired in 2022.

Called up by Fatih Terim, he represented Turkey twice in 2008-2009; he was called up again in August 2015 while at Sivasspor but did not play. At 1.94 meters he was strong in the air and could also play on the wing and in midfield.