Çağlar Şahin Akbaba

Çağlar Şahin Akbaba came through the youth ranks at Bucaspor, working his way through every age group before breaking into the first team in 2013. A loan spell at Elazığspor followed, and it was there, in October 2016, that his name appeared in the papers for the wrong reason: he was detained in Istanbul as part of a police operation targeting illegal betting rings. Elazığspor and reporting at the time framed it as a financial dispute with a bookmaker's owner rather than a betting case involving the player himself. Akbaba was questioned and released, and the Turkish Football Federation brought no disciplinary case against him.

His career carried on largely unaffected. After Elazığspor he signed with Kardemir Karabükspor, then Adana Demirspor, then Bursaspor, each move made as a free agent. In 2018, a switch to Galatasaray was reportedly agreed on a fee of around 1 million lira, only for manager Fatih Terim to personally block the deal.

A loan to Eyüpspor followed before he joined Boluspor in the summer of 2022. That spell became the longest and most defined stretch of his career: he was made captain and went on to make more than 70 appearances across three seasons there.

Akbaba was capped once for Turkey's under-19 side, in a match against the Netherlands in 2013.

He joined Van BB as a free agent in the summer of 2025. In his first season with the club, in the Turkish 1st Lig, he made 32 appearances and conceded 35 goals.