Orkun Kökçü

Orkun Kökçü (Turkish pronunciation: [oɾˈkun ˈkœktʃy]; born 29 December 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş, on loan from Primeira Liga club Benfica. Born in the Netherlands, he plays for the Turkey national team.

Orkun Kökçü

Kökçü playing for Turkey in 2024
Personal information
Date of birth	(2000-12-29) 29 December 2000 (age 24)
Place of birth	Haarlem, Netherlands[1]
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Beşiktaş (on loan from Benfica)
Number	10
Youth career
2007–2009	Olympia Haarlem
2009–2010	EDO
2010–2011	Stormvogels
2011–2014	Groningen
2014–2018	Feyenoord
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2018–2023	Feyenoord	119	(23)
2023–	Benfica	60	(14)
2025–	→ Beşiktaş (loan)	0	(0)
International career‡
2017–2018	Netherlands U18	5	(2)
2018–2019	Netherlands U19	7	(2)
2019	Turkey U21	2	(0)
2020–	Turkey	41	(3)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23:37, 17 May 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 11:11, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

Club career

Feyenoord

A youth product of FC Groningen, where he arrived after having played for local clubs around his hometown Haarlem,^[2] Kökçü joined the Feyenoord youth academy in 2014.^[3] He made his debut for Feyenoord at the age of 17 in a 4–0 win over VV Gemert in the first round of the KNVB Cup on 17 September 2018, scoring Feyenoord's second goal.^[4] He made his Eredivisie debut against FC Emmen on 9 December 2018,^[5] and contributed with a goal and an assist after coming on as a substitute.^[6] On 10 April 2019, he extended his contract at Feyenoord until 2023.^[7] On 26 June 2020, he reached an agreement to extend his contract with Feyenoord for another two years, a deal to the end of the 2024–25 season.^[8]

Following Jens Toornstra's departure, Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot chose Kökçü as his club captain on 2 September 2022.^[9] With Kökçü as captain, Feyenoord went on to win the 2022–23 Eredivisie.^[10]

Benfica

On 10 June 2023, Kökçü joined Benfica on a five-year deal for a reported fee of €25 million, plus €5 million in variables.^[11] The sum represented a record signing for the Portuguese club and the league surpassing Darwin Núñez transfer from Almería to Benfica in 2020 for transfer fee of €24 million and a club record sale for Feyenoord becoming the club's biggest sale since Kökçu's former Feyenoord teammate Luis Sinisterra's transfer to Leeds United in 2022 for a fee of €25 million.^[12]

Kökçü made his debut for Benfica in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, starting in a 2–0 win over rivals FC Porto.^[13] He scored his first goal on 2 September, netting Benfica's third goal in a 4–0 home win over Vitória de Guimarães.^[14] Kökçü made his UEFA Champions League debut on 20 September, starting in a 2–0 home loss to Red Bull Salzburg.^[15]

Beşiktaş

On 12 July 2025, Kökçü agreed on a loan deal with Süper Lig club Beşiktaş with an option to buy.^[16]

International career

Kökçü was a youth international for the Netherlands, having represented the Netherlands U18s,^[17] and Netherlands U19s.^[18] In July 2019, Kökçü announced the intent to play for the Turkey national team.^[19] He represented the Turkey U21s in a 3–2 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification loss to the England U21s on 6 September 2019.^[20]

He made his Turkey national team debut on 6 September 2020 in a Nations League game against Serbia, he started the game and played the first hour of the 0–0 away draw.^[21]

Personal life

Born in the Netherlands, Kökçü is of Turkish descent,^[22] from Suvermez, Emirdağ.^[23] He is the younger brother of the professional footballer Ozan Kökçü who plays internationally for the Azerbaijan national team. He is a lifelong fan of Beşiktaş and indicated a desire to play for the club he had been supporting since childhood.^[24]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 7 August 2025^[25]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		League cup[b]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Feyenoord	2018–19	Eredivisie	11	3	1	1	—		0	0	—		12	4
	2019–20[c]	Eredivisie	22	2	4	0	—		9[d]	1	—		35	3
	2020–21	Eredivisie	22	3	1	0	—		6[d]	1	2[e]	0	31	4
	2021–22	Eredivisie	32	7	1	0	—		18[f]	2	—		51	9
	2022–23	Eredivisie	32	8	4	1	—		10[d]	3	—		46	12
	Total		119	23	11	2	—		43	7	2	0	175	32
Benfica	2023–24	Primeira Liga	27	7	4	0	2	0	9[g]	0	1[h]	0	43	7
	2024–25	Primeira Liga	33	7	3	1	3	0	12[i]	4	4[j]	0	55	12
	Total		60	14	7	1	5	0	21	4	5	0	98	19
Beşiktaş	2025–26	Süper Lig	0	0	0	0	—		2[k]	0	—		2	0
Career total			179	37	18	3	5	0	66	11	7	0	275	51

1. Includes KNVB Cup, Taça de Portugal
2. Includes Taça da Liga
3. Season curtailed due to COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands
4. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
5. Appearances in Eredivisie European competition play-offs
6. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
7. Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, four appearances in UEFA Europa League
8. Appearance in Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
9. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
10. Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup
11. One appearance in UEFA Europa League, one appearance in UEFA Conference League

International

As of match played 11 June 2025^[26]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Turkey	2020	2	0
	2021	11	1
	2022	5	0
	2023	6	1
	2024	14	0
	2025	3	1
Total		41	3

Scores and results list Turkey's goal tally first.^[26]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	16 November 2021	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Montenegro	13	Montenegro	2–1	2–1	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	25 March 2023	Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia	19	Armenia	1–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying
3	20 March 2025	Rams Park, Istanbul, Turkey	39	Hungary	1–0	3–1	2024–25 UEFA Nations League promotion/relegation play-offs

Honours

Feyenoord

• Eredivisie: 2022–23^[10]
• Johan Cruyff Shield: 2018^[27]
• UEFA Europa Conference League runner-up: 2022^[28]

Benfica

• Taça da Liga: 2024–25^[29]
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2023^[30]

Individual

• Eredivisie Player of the Year: 2022–23^[31]
• Eredivisie Talent of the Month: December 2019,^[32] March 2021^[33]
• Eredivisie Player of the Month: January 2022,^[34] February 2022^[35]
• Eredivisie Team of the Month: August 2021,^[36] December 2021,^[37] January 2022,^[38] February 2022,^[39] April 2022,^[40] September 2022, October 2022,^[41] November 2022,^[42] March 2023,^[43] April 2023^[44]
• Primeira Liga Goal of the Month: September 2023^[45]