Demir Ege Tıknaz

Demir Ege Tıknaz — Biography

Demir Ege Tıknaz is a defensive midfielder who came through the Beşiktaş academy and moved to Portugal's Braga in January 2026. Standing 1.93 metres tall and playing at the centre of midfield, he also made his debut for the Turkey senior national team in 2025.

He joined the Beşiktaş academy in 2014, signed a professional contract in January 2021 and was promoted to the first team the following season. While still playing as an attacking midfielder at youth level, he was tried in the number 6 role by coach Önder Karaveli; a torn cruciate ligament in April 2022 ended his season. His first official match came in July 2023 against KF Tirana in the Conference League, and he won the Turkish Cup in 2023-24 and the Super Cup in 2024. Loaned to Rio Ave in September 2024, he renewed with Beşiktaş through the 2027-28 season in July 2025 and scored his first goal in August against St Patrick's Athletic. In January 2026 he joined Braga for 7 million euros, with Beşiktaş keeping a 20% share of any future sale.

At Braga he was named man of the match in his first start and scored against Freiburg in April 2026. He wore the national shirt from under-14 up to under-21 level and made his senior debut on 11 June 2025 against Mexico after a call-up from Vincenzo Montella. In June 2026 he and Aral Şimşir left the senior team's World Cup camp.