İrfan Kahveci

İrfan Kahveci — Biography

İrfan Can Kahveci is a winger and attacking midfielder who won the Süper Lig with İstanbul Başakşehir and had his career season at Fenerbahçe. He was named Turkish Footballer of the Year in 2020, was in Turkey's squad at Euro 2024 and, on June 2, 2026, was named in the 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup.

He started playing at 7 at the Gençlerbirliği Football School. In his early years he played at left-back, in deep midfield and on the right wing; on loan at Hacettepe in 2013-14 he scored 4 goals in 34 matches as the team won promotion to the Second League, and he made his Süper Lig debut on August 29, 2014. At Başakşehir, which he joined in December 2016, Abdullah Avcı placed him in the playmaker role; he won the league in 2019-20, and on December 2, 2020, he scored a Champions League hat-trick against RB Leipzig, becoming the third player to score a hat-trick in a losing cause in the competition as his team lost 3-4.

He joined Fenerbahçe on January 31, 2021, on a four-and-a-half-year contract. He won the Turkish Cup in 2022-23, finished 2023-24 under İsmail Kartal with 18 goals and 12 assists, and extended his contract to June 2028 in January 2025. He was left out of the squad in October 2025 and left Fenerbahçe in early 2026. He made his senior national team debut against Ireland on March 23, 2018.