Emir Ortakaya

Emir Ortakaya — Biography

Emir Ortakaya is a young center-back born in Ankara who went from Gençlerbirliği's academy to Fenerbahçe and spent his first professional years on loan in Turkey and Belgium. In July 2026 he returned to Kocaelispor on a two-year contract.

He started at his home city's club, Gençlerbirliği, was promoted to the under-19 side in 2020, played his first under-19 match against Fenerbahçe U19 in March 2021 and made his first senior appearance in a Turkish Cup tie against Tuzlaspor. He moved to Fenerbahçe in August 2021 and scored three goals in 28 under-19 league matches. He was then loaned out: in 2022-23 he was a regular starter for Göztepe in the TFF First League from the opening week and scored his first goal on May 16, 2023, in a 3-3 draw with Çaykur Rizespor. In 2023-24 he was loaned to Kocaelispor.

In July 2024 he joined Belgium's Westerlo; after three league and two cup matches he terminated his contract at the end of December and came back, and in January 2025 he was loaned to Beerschot, again in Belgium. On July 2, 2025, he was loaned to Eyüpspor; on November 3, 2025, he made his Süper Lig debut as a substitute against Antalyaspor and started a week later against Samsunspor. In January 2026 he left Fenerbahçe on a permanent transfer to Çaykur Rizespor, and a few months later he went back to Kocaelispor, where he had played on loan before.