İpek Kaya (born 28 October 1994) is a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a defender for

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twelv ...

club Soyaux. Born in France, she represents

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

at international level.

Early years

She was born to Turkish immigrant parents in L'Aigle, Orne in France on October 28, 1994. She is a student of law.

Playing career

Club

She began her football career at her hometown club FC du Pays Aiglon in October 2004, where she was until June 2010. The next month, Kaya was transferred by FCF Condé, then competing in the French top women's league of

. For the 2015–16 season, the defender signed for

ASJ Soyaux-Charente ASJ Soyaux Charente (''Association Sportive Jeunesse de Soyaux Charente''), commonly known as Soyaux, is a women's football club founded in 1968 and based in Soyaux, France. The club had played in France's top division except for spans of relegat ...

, another club of

. She then went to Stade Brestois 29, where she played the 2016–17 season. Kaya transferred in the 2017–18 season to

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league ...

, where she played three seasons and served as the captain. In June 2020, she returned to her former club Stade Brestois 29.

International

İpek Kaya was selected twice to the

France women's national under-19 football team The France women's national under-19 football team represents France at UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship and FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Their first achievement was winning the 2003 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. They have then won four m ...

. However, she preferred to play for Turkey. She debuted in the Turkey women's national team in the friendly match against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

on February 24, 2015. She took part at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying Group 5 for Turkey. She played in three games of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA preliminary round – Group 4. She took part in five matches of the

UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying Group A Group A of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying competition consists of six teams: Netherlands, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, Kosovo, and Estonia. The composition of the nine groups in the qualifying group stage was decided by the draw held on 21 Febru ...

References

External links

* * * * 1994 births Living people People from L'Aigle Sportspeople from Orne Footballers from Normandy French people of Turkish descent Citizens of Turkey through descent French women's footballers Turkish women's footballers Women's association football defenders ASJ Soyaux-Charente players Fenerbahçe S.K. (women's football) players {{France-women-footy-bio-stub