Burak Yılmaz


Burak Yılmaz is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Lille and the Turkish national team.
Yılmaz is one of 9 players who played football of Big Three clubs of Turkey and one of only 2 players who played Big Three and Trabzonspor, along with Sergen Yalçın. Yılmaz is two times Süper Lig top scorer in 2011–12 with 33 and 2012–13 seasons with 24 goals.
Born in Antalya, Turkey, son of former Antalyaspor goalkeeper Fikret Yılmaz, Burak Yılmaz started to play football at Antalyaspor where he sign his first professional contract in July 2002 and made his professional debut in 2002–03 season of TFF First League. Following 4 four seasons at Antalyaspor, Yılmaz joined Beşiktaş J.K. in 2006–07 season, where he played one and a half season and was primarily depolyed as a winger. Yılmaz had a short spell in Manisaspor before he joined Fenerbahçe S.K. in 2008–09 Süper Lig season. Loaned out Eskişehirspor in 2009–10 season, Yılmaz was transferred Trabzonspor in winter transfer window of 2009–10 season where he will make his major career break through under management of Şenol Güneş and became Süper Lig top scorer with 33 goals in 2011–12 season.
Following 3 seasons spent in Trabzonspor where he won one Turkish Cup and Turkish Super Cup, Yılmaz joined Galatasaray S.K., where he will stay four seasons, winning his two Süper Lig titles in 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, as well as being Süper Lig top scorer for second time in his career in 2012–13 season. In 2016, Yılmaz joined Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan for two seasons where he scored 28 goals in total. Yılmaz then returned Trabzonspor for his second spell which lasted two seasons. In 2018–19 season Yılmaz returned Beşiktaş for another second spell. He scored 11 and 13 goales respectively in two seasons in Beşiktaş.
Represented Turkey in different youth age groups between 2001 and 2006, Burak Yılmaz made his senior debut in a friendly game aganst Azerbaijan in 2006. Holding 56 caps as of 2020, scoring 24 goals, Yılmaz ranks second place of all time top scorers of Turkey after Hakan Şükür.

Club career

Early career

Burak started his professional career in Antalyaspor as a midfielder. He scored his first goal in the 2004–05 season against Karşıyaka. He played 29 matches, scoring 8 goals and helping his team avoid relegation. He contributed to the success of the team's promotion to the Süper Lig after finishing second in Division 1 in the 2005–06 season especially in the second half of the season after scoring 9 goals in 24 matches. In 70 league appearances for the club he scored 17 goals.

Beşiktaş

Burak was transferred to Beşiktaş in the summer of 2006. He made his debut on August 6, 2006 against Manisaspor, and scored his first goal against Konyaspor in a 3–1 win for Beşiktaş. He also scored against Trabzonspor.
In his first season, he scored 5 goals in 30 league appearances and Beşiktaş finished the League in the second place. He played also in the Turkish Cup 7 times and scored 1 goal, helping his team win the cup. His form dropped dramatically during the 2007–08 season. In January 2008, he was sold to Manisaspor as part of an exchange deal, and later to Fenerbahçe on 29 June 2008.

Fenerbahçe

On 29 June 2008, Burak was sold to Fenerbahçe and was presented at a news conference wearing the number 7 shirt.
On the contrary to his "promising youngster" image in Manisaspor and Beşiktaş, he had been a disappointment during his spell in Fenerbahçe, only playing six games and failing to score in the 2008–09 season.

Trabzonspor

In February 2010, Burak was transferred permanently to Trabzonspor.
Following the arrival of a new coach, Trabzonspor legend Şenol Güneş, he debuted on 15 February 2023 and played the last 15 minutes against Bursaspor in a 1–1 draw. After joining the club, he recovered his goal-scoring form, and on February 26 he scored for Trabzonspor against his old team Antalyaspor, helping his side to a second place league finish for the 2010–11 season. Burak also competed in the Turkish Cup semi-finals and went on to defeat his old team, Fenerbahçe, 3–1 in the finals. Ten days later, Trabzonspor played against Fenerbahçe again in the last game of the league season. Burak scored in the 23rd minute, helping his team escape with a 1–1 away draw. As a result, Fenerbahce finished in second-place of the league competition, one point behind the champion Bursaspor. He became Trabzonspor's leading goalscorer with 19 goals in 30 league games and July 2011 he signed a new four-year contract with the club.
Burak opened the following season by helping Trabzonspor win its first Turkish Super Cup in team history.
In the 2010–11 Süper Lig season he was one of the team's most effective players, especially over the final weeks of the league, scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 win over Beşiktaş, scoring in 1–0 wins against Galatasaray and Bursaspor, and helping Trabzonspor finish as runner-up for the League. In the regular season of the 2011–12 Süper Lig, Burak scored 33 goals in 34 appearances, a new club record previously held by Fatih Tekke who scored 31 goals in the 2004–05 season.

Galatasaray

On 13 July 2012, he signed a 4+1 year contract with Galatasaray for € 5 million from Trabzonspor.
Yilmaz would receive €2.3 million per-season with a €20,000 bonus per-appearance.
On 2 September 2012, he scored his first goal for Galatasaray against Bursaspor, as the game finished 3–2, making it Galatasaray's historic 1000th league win. On 19 September, in a Champions League match against Manchester United, he became the first Turkish player to play a Champions League match with four most of the most successful Turkish clubs. Two weeks later he scored the only goal for Galatasaray as the game ended in a 1–1 home draw against Eskişehirspor. On October 23, in the 3rd game of the Champions League Group Stage, he scored a goal from a header for Galatasaray to avoid losing the match as the game ended in a 1–1 draw against CFR Cluj. On 28 October, he scored his 100th career goal, during a 3–0 win against Kayserispor, maintaining their position as league leaders. On 7 November 2012, Burak netted a perfect hat-trick in a 3–1 away win over CFR Cluj in a Champions League group match,
becoming the first Turkish player to score three goals in a Champions League game since Tuncay. He continued his streak by scoring the only goal of the game in the crucial Champions League group win against Manchester United with a header in second half on November 20 securing Gala's advantage at the second place of the group before the last games. He finished the group stage of the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League as top scorer with 6 goals in 501 minutes, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the same number of goals in 540 minutes.
On 23 November 2013, Burak scored his 100th Süper Lig goal against Sivasspor in a 2-1 home win.

Beijing Guoan

On 5 February 2016, Galatasaray announced Burak's agreeing with Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan for € 8 million transfer fee. Galatasaray would pay € 2 million to his former club Trabzonspor because of agreement.

Return to Trabzonspor

On 2 August 2017, Yılmaz returned to Trabzonspor for family reasons. He managed to score 23 goals in 25 matches in his return season.

Lille

Lille OSC announced the arrival of Yılmaz on 1 August 2020. The parties agreed upon a 2-season-long contract.

Personal life

Burak is the son of the manager and former professional footballer Fikret Yılmaz. Yılmaz has two daughters from his marriage to İstem Atilla, which lasted for four years.

Honours

Club

;Galatasaray
;Trabzonspor
;Beşiktaş

Club

International

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.3 June 2011King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium1–11–1UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
2.2 September 2011Türk Telekom Arena, İstanbul, Turkey1–02–1UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
3.11 October 2011Türk Telekom Arena, İstanbul, Turkey1–01–0UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
4.26 May 2012Red Bull Arena, Salzburg, Austria1–12–3Friendly
5.26 May 2012Red Bull Arena, Salzburg, Austria2–12–3Friendly
6.29 May 2012Red Bull Arena, Salzburg, Austria2–02–0Friendly
7.22 March 2013Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, Andorra la Vella, Andorra2–02–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.26 March 2013Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, İstanbul, Turkey1–01–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.14 August 2013Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadium, İstanbul, Turkey1–02–2Friendly
10.6 September 2013Kadir Has Stadium, Kayseri, Turkey3–05–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.10 September 2013Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania1–02–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
12.11 October 2013A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia2–02–0-
13.19 November 2013Tevfik Sırrı Gür Stadium, Mersin, Turkey2–12–1Friendly
14.16 November 2014Türk Telekom Arena, İstanbul, Turkey1–03–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
15.16 November 2014Türk Telekom Arena, İstanbul, Turkey2–03–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
16.28 March 2015Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands1–01–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
17.8 June 2015Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium, İstanbul, Turkey3–04–0Friendly
18.8 June 2015Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium, İstanbul, Turkey4–04–0Friendly
19.6 September 2015Torku Arena, Konya, Turkey3–03–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
20.5 June 2016Stozice Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia1–01–0Friendly
21.21 June 2016Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France1–02–0UEFA Euro 2016
22.11 November 2016New Antalya Stadium, Antalya, Turkey1–02–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification
23.11 June 2017Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër, Albania3–14–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
24.22 March 2019Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër, Albania1–02–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualification