Bülent Kocabey

Bülent Kocabey — Biography

Bülent Kocabey is a midfielder whose career of nearly twenty years ran from the lower divisions of Turkish football up to the Süper Lig. He is best remembered for his years at Eskişehirspor; a product of the Beşiktaş academy, he went on to play for many clubs.

He started out in 1998 at Yeni Ortabayırspor, joined the Beşiktaş youth system a year later and won the A2 league with the club's reserves in 2002-03. With no professional contract offered, he went to Gençlerbirliği in 2003 as part of a player swap; injuries gave him two Süper Lig appearances for the first team. He was then loaned twice to feeder club Asaşspor, scoring his first goal against Darıca Gençlerbirliği, and joined it permanently once it became OFTAŞ, winning the 1. Lig title and promotion to the Süper Lig in 2006-07, two levels up in two seasons. Back in the Süper Lig in 2007-08, his first match was against his old club Gençlerbirliği, and he also faced another former side, Beşiktaş, that season.

He arrived at Eskişehirspor on a free transfer at the start of 2008-09 and was one of the team's key players for two seasons. At the 2010-11 winter break he moved to Kardemir Karabükspor, then signed for Samsunspor in 2011-12 and terminated the contract mid-season, followed by Karşıyaka and, in 2012-13, Adanaspor. Hacettepe, Denizlispor and Edirnespor are also among his clubs; he returned to Karabükspor in 2018 and left Adanaspor in 2020.