Kenan Karaman

Kenan Karaman — Biography

Kenan Karaman is a Turkish center-forward born in Stuttgart, 1.91 m tall. He is the Schalke 04 captain whose goal in May 2026 brought the club back to the Bundesliga, and he has also played for the Turkey national team.

He began at MTV Stuttgart in 2000, passed through the youth ranks of VfB Stuttgart and Stuttgart Kickers and joined Hoffenheim in 2008; in 2010-11 he scored 14 goals in 25 games for Hoffenheim's U17s and was top scorer of the South-Southwest group. He made his Bundesliga debut on March 2, 2014, against Wolfsburg. That year he joined Hannover 96 on a free transfer and scored 10 goals in 87 Bundesliga games over four seasons. In 2018 he joined Fortuna Düsseldorf, also free, and scored 9 goals in 41 Bundesliga games in his first two seasons, though the team dropped to the second division. In 2021 he moved to Beşiktaş and won the Super Cup, then left in September 2022 after 37 games and 2 goals.

In September 2022 he signed a three-year contract with Schalke 04, extended it to 2028 in July 2024 and took the captaincy from head coach Karel Geraerts at the start of 2024-25. On May 2, 2026, he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf that took Schalke up as 2. Bundesliga champions. Mircea Lucescu first called him up to the senior national team in 2017, and he scored his first international goal against Greece on May 30, 2019. In May 2026 he said he deserved a recall to the national team.