Cenk Özkacar

Cenk Özkacar (born 6 October 2000) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a defender for La Liga club Valencia and the Turkey national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a left-back.

Early years in Turkey
Born in İzmir, Özkacar spent his youth career at local teams Bucaspor, Altinordu and Altay. He made his professional debut in 2018, while on loan at Karacabey Belediyespor, before returning to Altay the following year.

Lyon
On 18 August 2020, Özkacar joined Ligue 1 club Lyon on a five-year deal. On 21 April 2021, he made his debut for Lyon as a late substitute for Léo Dubois during a 2–0 loss to Monaco in the Coupe de France.

Loan to Leuven
On 6 July 2021, Belgian First Division A team OH Leuven presented Özkacar as new player, on loan from Lyon for one season.

Loan to Valencia
In August 2022, Özkacar signed on loan for La Liga side Valencia.

Valencia
On 1 July 2023, Valencia exercised their buy-option in the loan contract, signing Özkacar permanently. However, Özkacar scored an own-goal in a 1-0 loss against Deportivo Alaves, and only started 35% of matches in La Liga by January 15 2024, leading some media outlets to report he was seeking a move away in order to make it in Turkey's Euro 2024 squad.

International career
Özkacar has been capped six time by the Turkey U21s.

He had his first cap with the Turkey senior national team on 8 June 2022, getting subbed on in the UEFA Nations League match against Lithuania, replacing Ozan Kabak in the 76th minute. He managed to help his team keeping the clean sheet and ended up winning 6–0.