Bünyamin Balcı

Bünyamin Balcı has never played for another club. Born in Samsun, he joined the Antalyaspor academy in 2012 after brief spells at Antalyagücü Spor and Meydan Gençlik ve Spor, and by 2019 he had been promoted into the first-team squad, where he has stayed ever since. Both Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe have been linked with moves for him, though nothing has come of it and he remains at the club that raised him.

Balcı has built himself into a fixture of the Antalyaspor defence, passing 195 appearances in the Süper Lig. He has not added a major trophy to that record. Off the back of that form he was called up repeatedly to the Turkey under-21 side, earning a dozen caps between 2020 and 2022, though a step up to the senior national team has not yet followed.

He has also shown a willingness to change his own numbers: after wearing 77 during the 2021–22 season, he switched to the number 7 shirt the following campaign, which he still carries at Antalyaspor. A right-footed defender by trade, he has spent his entire career learning the position in the same shirt colours.