Kerem Aktürkoglu joins Benfica!

WELCOME, AKTÜRKOGLU!

The 25-year-old winger Kerem Aktürkoglu has joined Sport Lisboa e Benfica's professional football team. A Turkey international, he has signed a contract with the Glorioso valid for five seasons (until 2029), moving to Luz from Galatasaray.

CAREER

Born on October 21, 1998, in Kocaeli, Turkey, Kerem Aktürkoglu played for Gölcükspor and Hisareynspor before joining Basaksehir in 2014 at the age of 15. After one season in the Under-17s and another in the Under-19s on the outskirts of Istanbul, the winger was loaned to BB Bodrumspor, in the Turkish Third Division, and scored four goals in 28 games played in the 2016/17 season.

After returning to Basaksehir, Aktürkoglu didn't feature for the whole of the 2017/18 season and, after his contract expired, he signed for Karacabey Belediyespor, also in the Turkish Third Division. A regular in his new team's starting eleven, the winger scored three goals in 35 games in 2018/19 and his performances caught the eye of Erzincanspor, where in 2019/20 he played a decisive role in the club's promotion to the II Division, scoring 20 goals in 30 games, 28 in the league and two in the play-offs.

Despite playing in the lower divisions, Aktürkoglu earned international caps for Turkey's U18 and U19 teams and his big career break came in the summer of 2020, when he was signed by Galatasaray. At the popular Istanbul club, the winger soon established himself as an important part of the team and, until his move to Benfica, he scored 46 goals and made more than 30 assists in 179 matches, winning two championships and a Turkish Super Cup. During this period (from September 2020 to September 2024), he also gained international experience: 16 games in the Champions League and 14 in the Europa League, between group stages and play-offs.

At the end of his first season at Galatasaray, the now Benfica new arrival earned his first international cap for Turkey's senior national team (he played 45 minutes in a friendly against Azerbaijan on May 27, 2021) and, since then, he has been a regular in his country's squads, especially in the 2020 and 2024 European Championships. In the latter, he played five games and scored a goal in a 3-1 win over Georgia on matchday 1 of Group F.