Ebrar Karakurt (born 17 January 2000) is a Turkish volleyball player who has represented the Türkiye women’s national team at senior level since 2018. Developed as an opposite before establishing herself as an outside hitter, she has built an international career around high-volume attacking, a dangerous serve and the ability to carry scoring responsibility from either wing.
Karakurt emerged through Turkish volleyball with Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor and VakıfBank, winning the CEV Champions League and FIVB Club World Championship while still a teenager. She later played for Türk Hava Yolları, Igor Gorgonzola Novara in Italy and Lokomotiv Kaliningrad in Russia, where she won the Russian league in 2024–25. With Türkiye, she was part of the breakthrough 2023 Volleyball Nations League and European Championship title teams and helped the country reach its first Women’s World Championship final in 2025. In 2025 she returned to Türkiye with Eczacıbaşı, reaching the 2026 Champions League final in her first season with the club.
Player Information
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Ebrar Karakurt |
| Date of birth | 17 January 2000 |
| Place of birth | Balıkesir, Türkiye |
| Nationality | Turkish |
| Position | Outside hitter; also experienced at opposite |
| Height | 197 cm |
| Weight | 75 kg |
| Spike reach | 321 cm |
| Block reach | 310 cm |
| Dominant hand | Right |
| Current club | Eczacıbaşı Peron İstanbul |
| Club number | 99 |
| National team | Türkiye Women’s National Volleyball Team |
| National-team number | 99 |
| Previous clubs | Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor, VakıfBank, Bahçelievler Voleybol Kulübü, Türk Hava Yolları, Igor Gorgonzola Novara, Lokomotiv Kaliningrad |
| @ebrarkarakurt18 |
Eczacıbaşı’s current player card lists Karakurt at 197 cm and identifies her as an outside hitter wearing No. 99. Volleyball World and CEV competition listings have used slightly different height figures across different seasons, while secondary player databases also vary in their reach measurements; the figures above use the current club height together with the more recent available player-database measurements for reach and weight.
Early Life & Volleyball Beginnings
Karakurt grew up in Balıkesir and began playing volleyball at school. A CEV career feature describes her being noticed by a VakıfBank scout while she was still in fifth grade, followed by her move into a more formal development pathway several years later. Her early senior record also includes Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor, where she gained top-level experience at an unusually young age.
Her progression was rapid. By her mid-teens she was already moving between youth and senior volleyball, and in 2017 she was part of Türkiye’s title-winning team at the FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship. The following years brought a much larger role at VakıfBank, one of the strongest clubs in European volleyball.
That environment placed Karakurt alongside experienced international players while she was still developing as an opposite. It also exposed her to the Champions League, the Turkish league and the Club World Championship before she turned 20. The combination of early senior minutes and elite-club competition helped accelerate a career that soon moved from prospect status to major attacking responsibility.
Club Career
Development with Bursa and VakıfBank
Karakurt’s senior club pathway began with Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor before she entered the VakıfBank system. She also had a spell with Bahçelievler Voleybol Kulübü during this developmental period, giving her playing opportunities outside VakıfBank’s first team while remaining part of an elite-club environment.
Her breakthrough at VakıfBank coincided with one of the club’s strongest periods. In 2017–18, VakıfBank won the CEV Champions League, the Turkish league, the Turkish Cup and the Turkish Super Cup. The club then added the 2018 FIVB Club World Championship and another Turkish league title in 2018–19. Those medals gave Karakurt an unusually substantial honors list before her 20th birthday.
At this stage she was primarily an opposite. That role suited her ability to produce points in volume and attack difficult balls from the right side, traits that would later make her one of Türkiye’s main international scorers.
Türk Hava Yolları and the move to Italy
Karakurt left VakıfBank for Türk Hava Yolları ahead of the 2020–21 season. The move gave her a larger offensive role and preceded the first major international transfer of her club career.
In 2021, Igor Gorgonzola Novara signed her after her season with THY. CEV described the transfer as a rare move abroad for a leading young Turkish player. Italy placed her in one of the world’s deepest domestic leagues, where she competed directly against elite opposites and became a central scorer for Novara.
Her second Italian season showed how large that responsibility had become. In January 2023, she had 286 points through 14 Serie A1 matches and led the league’s scoring table at that stage. In Europe, one of her defining Novara performances came in the first leg of the 2023 Champions League semifinal against Eczacıbaşı. Karakurt scored 27 points and was named match MVP as Novara won a five-set thriller, including a decisive serving run in the tie-break.
Two seasons with Lokomotiv Kaliningrad
Karakurt moved to Russia and Lokomotiv Kaliningrad in 2023. Her two seasons there were especially productive individually. In 2023–24 she finished as Russian league runner-up and collected league awards for MVP, Best Opposite, Best Server and Top Scorer, while also receiving a Best Server award in the Russian Cup.
The following season brought the major team prize that had eluded Lokomotiv the year before. Karakurt won the 2024–25 Russian league title and was again recognized as the league’s MVP, Best Opposite and Top Scorer. Lokomotiv also won the Governor of Kaliningrad Cup during that season.
Those Russian seasons reinforced the qualities that had defined Karakurt as an opposite: taking a large share of the attack, generating points from the service line and remaining productive over long domestic campaigns.
Return to Türkiye with Eczacıbaşı
In June 2025, Eczacıbaşı announced Karakurt’s return to Turkish club volleyball for the 2025–26 season after four years playing abroad. Her move to Eczacıbaşı brought her back to the Sultanlar Ligi after spells in Italy and Russia.
Her first season produced a Champions League final appearance. Eczacıbaşı lost the 2026 final to VakıfBank in four sets, but Karakurt led her team with 20 points. She was subsequently selected as one of the two outside hitters in the Final Four Dream Team. CEV named Karakurt to the 2026 Champions League Final Four Dream Team.
For 2026–27, the club competes under the name Eczacıbaşı Peron İstanbul. Karakurt remains on the roster wearing No. 99.
Club Career Timeline
| Seasons | Team | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2014–15 | Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor | Türkiye |
| 2016–20 | VakıfBank | Türkiye |
| 2017–18 | Bahçelievler Voleybol Kulübü | Türkiye |
| 2020–21 | Türk Hava Yolları | Türkiye |
| 2021–23 | Igor Gorgonzola Novara | Italy |
| 2023–25 | Lokomotiv Kaliningrad | Russia |
| 2025–present | Eczacıbaşı | Türkiye |
CEV’s competition database documents Karakurt’s European-club appearances for Bursa, VakıfBank, THY, Novara and Eczacıbaşı, while her current club profile also records the Bahçelievler and Lokomotiv stages of her career.
National Team Career
Karakurt reached senior international volleyball at a young age. Before becoming a fixture with Türkiye’s senior side, she won the 2017 U23 World Championship. She then entered the Volleyball Nations League in 2018 as a teenager, scoring 63 points during a campaign in which Türkiye reached the final and took silver.
By 2019, her role had expanded dramatically. She scored 291 points during the VNL preliminary phase, the second-highest total in the round, and finished the tournament with the Best Opposite award. Volleyball World documented her rapid jump from a 63-point VNL rookie to a 291-point scorer in 2019. Türkiye also won silver at the 2019 European Championship.
Karakurt remained a major scorer through the next Olympic cycle. At the 2021 VNL, Türkiye won bronze, and she produced one of the tournament’s strongest medal-match performances: 29 points in a straight-sets victory over Japan, including four blocks and 24 kills from 37 attacks. Her 29-point bronze-medal performance helped Türkiye sweep Japan in the 2021 VNL. Later that year, she played at the Tokyo Olympics and was part of the Türkiye side that reached the quarterfinals.
The most consequential tactical change of her national-team career came in 2023. The arrival of Melissa Vargas gave Türkiye another elite opposite, creating the question of how both scorers could remain on court together. During the VNL Finals, head coach Daniele Santarelli moved Karakurt to outside hitter. The change added serve-reception duties to her scoring role while allowing Vargas to remain at opposite.
The adjustment worked immediately. Karakurt scored 35 points across the VNL Finals and was Türkiye’s second-highest scorer during that stage. In the championship match against China, she had 12 points—seven kills, two aces and three blocks—and delivered the match-winning block as Türkiye captured the first VNL gold medal in its history. Volleyball World later described Santarelli’s decision to move Karakurt outside as a key element in fitting her alongside Vargas.
That summer became even more important when Türkiye won EuroVolley 2023, defeating Serbia in five sets in the final. Karakurt contributed from the outside-hitter position throughout the championship and was named a Best Outside Hitter of the tournament. Türkiye’s five-set victory over Serbia delivered its first European Championship title.
Karakurt remained an outside hitter in the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle. She was part of Türkiye’s 12-player roster in Paris, where the team advanced to the Olympic semifinals before losing to eventual champion Italy.
The 2025 FIVB Women’s World Championship added another major milestone. In the quarterfinal against the United States, Karakurt produced 23 points—20 kills and three blocks—as Türkiye reached the World Championship semifinals for the first time. Her 23-point performance against the United States powered Türkiye into its first World Championship semifinal. She followed with 13 points in the semifinal victory over Japan, helping Türkiye reach its first World Championship final.
Türkiye ultimately lost a five-set final to Italy, earning the silver medal and the country’s first podium finish at the Women’s World Championship. The 2025 final ended 3–2 to Italy after Türkiye pushed the world champions to a fifth set.
Karakurt was again named to Türkiye’s extended national-team roster for the 2026 VNL, with the federation listing her among the outside hitters. Her international summer was later affected by a sacral bone-edema issue, and her club reported in September that the condition was improving and that she was continuing team training.
Playing Style & Strengths
Karakurt’s most distinctive tactical value is that she can bring an opposite’s scoring profile into an outside-hitter role. Early in her senior career, she was used primarily as an opposite and developed around heavy attacking volume. The 2019 VNL is an early example: she became the second-highest scorer of the preliminary phase and finished the competition as Best Opposite. Her Novara and Lokomotiv seasons later reinforced that identity, with Karakurt regularly taking a large share of high-pressure attacking responsibility.
The 2023 national-team switch expanded that profile. Santarelli moved her from opposite to outside hitter during the VNL Finals, which meant Karakurt had to score while also becoming part of Türkiye’s serve-reception structure. That was a meaningful tactical change rather than a cosmetic positional label. By the 2025–26 Champions League, the conversion had developed far enough that CEV noted that no outside hitter among the four semifinal teams had produced better reception numbers to that point in the competition.
Her serve remains another direct scoring tool. Karakurt has collected Best Server awards in Türkiye and Russia, and her serving frequently appears in major-match stat lines rather than functioning only as a way to start rallies. In the 2023 VNL final she produced two aces, while her ability to apply pressure from the line was also visible during her Novara years.
Blocking is a secondary but useful source of points. She recorded four blocks in the 2021 VNL bronze-medal match against Japan and three in the 2025 World Championship quarterfinal against the United States. Her size and experience as an opposite give her familiarity with blocking elite left-side attackers, while the move to outside hitter requires a different set of matchups and transition responsibilities.
The result is an unusual combination: Karakurt can be used as a six-rotation outside hitter without removing the high-ball scoring mentality that made her successful at opposite. For Türkiye, that positional flexibility has been especially valuable because it allows Karakurt and Melissa Vargas to remain on court together without sacrificing one of the team’s primary attacking threats.
Major Achievements
Selected National Team Honors
| Year | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship | Gold |
| 2018 | FIVB Volleyball Nations League | Silver |
| 2019 | CEV European Championship | Silver |
| 2021 | FIVB Volleyball Nations League | Bronze |
| 2021 | CEV European Championship | Bronze |
| 2023 | FIVB Volleyball Nations League | Gold |
| 2023 | CEV European Championship | Gold |
| 2025 | FIVB Women’s World Championship | Silver |
Her 2023 titles represented Türkiye’s first VNL championship and first European Championship crown, while the 2025 World Championship silver was the country’s first medal in that competition.
Selected Club Honors
| Season / Year | Competition | Result | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | CEV Champions League | Winner | VakıfBank |
| 2017–18 | Turkish League | Winner | VakıfBank |
| 2017–18 | Turkish Cup | Winner | VakıfBank |
| 2017–18 | Turkish Super Cup | Winner | VakıfBank |
| 2018 | FIVB Club World Championship | Winner | VakıfBank |
| 2018–19 | Turkish League | Winner | VakıfBank |
| 2021–22 | Italian Cup | Runner-up | Igor Gorgonzola Novara |
| 2021–22 | Italian Super Cup | Runner-up | Igor Gorgonzola Novara |
| 2022–23 | Italian Super Cup | Runner-up | Igor Gorgonzola Novara |
| 2023–24 | Russian Super League | Runner-up | Lokomotiv Kaliningrad |
| 2023–24 | Russian Super Cup | Runner-up | Lokomotiv Kaliningrad |
| 2024–25 | Governor of Kaliningrad Cup | Winner | Lokomotiv Kaliningrad |
| 2024–25 | Russian Super League | Winner | Lokomotiv Kaliningrad |
| 2025–26 | CEV Champions League | Runner-up | Eczacıbaşı |
Selected Individual Awards
| Year / Season | Competition | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Age-group World Championship | Best Outside Hitter |
| 2019 | FIVB Volleyball Nations League | Best Opposite |
| 2020–21 | Turkish Cup | Best Server |
| 2020–21 | Turkish League | Best Server |
| 2022–23 | Italian League | Best Opposite |
| 2023 | CEV European Championship | Best Outside Hitter |
| 2023–24 | Russian Cup | Best Server |
| 2023–24 | Russian Super League | MVP |
| 2023–24 | Russian Super League | Best Opposite |
| 2023–24 | Russian Super League | Best Server |
| 2023–24 | Russian Super League | Top Scorer |
| 2024–25 | Russian Super League | MVP |
| 2024–25 | Russian Super League | Best Opposite |
| 2024–25 | Russian Super League | Top Scorer |
| 2025–26 | CEV Champions League Final Four | Best Outside Hitter |
The award history is notable for spanning both of Karakurt’s main positions: she accumulated major Best Opposite honors before adding Best Outside Hitter recognition with Türkiye and Eczacıbaşı.
Where Is Ebrar Karakurt Playing Now?
Karakurt plays for Eczacıbaşı Peron İstanbul in the Vodafone Sultanlar Ligi. She wears No. 99 and is listed as an outside hitter on the club’s 2026–27 roster. The current Eczacıbaşı team name reflects the club’s Peron İstanbul designation for the new season.
Her start to 2026–27 followed a disrupted international summer. On 14 September, Eczacıbaşı reported that bone edema in her sacral region had improved and that she was continuing to participate in team training. She returned to competitive action as the domestic season opened in October.
Karakurt immediately resumed a significant offensive and reception role. She scored 26 points in Eczacıbaşı’s five-set season-opening victory over Nilüfer Belediyespor and later recorded 20 points against VakıfBank on 18 October. The second performance also came with 18 recorded receptions and a 67 percent reception figure on the club’s statistical page.
At international level, Karakurt remains part of Türkiye’s senior player pool. The Turkish federation included her among the outside hitters in its 30-player extended roster for the 2026 VNL.
Recent Performance Snapshot
October 2026 — Eczacıbaşı Peron İstanbul
| Date | Opponent | Result | Recorded highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Oct 2026 | Nilüfer Belediyespor Eker | Won 3–2 | 26 points, 23 spikes, 40 receptions, 63% reception |
| 11 Oct 2026 | Aras Kargo | Won 3–0 | 11 points |
| 18 Oct 2026 | VakıfBank | Lost 2–3 | 20 points, 18 spikes, 18 receptions, 67% reception |
These figures are date-specific club statistics rather than career averages. They illustrate Karakurt’s early 2026–27 workload after returning to competition, particularly the combination of scoring and reception responsibilities expected from her current outside-hitter role.
Frequently Asked Questions
What position does Ebrar Karakurt play?
Karakurt currently plays primarily as an outside hitter. Earlier in her career she was predominantly an opposite, and she won several major individual awards at that position. Türkiye’s move to use her outside in 2023 allowed her and Melissa Vargas to play together.
How tall is Ebrar Karakurt?
Eczacıbaşı’s current 2026–27 player card lists Karakurt at 197 cm. Different competition databases have published figures between roughly 195 and 198 cm at various points in her career.
Which club does Ebrar Karakurt play for?
Karakurt plays for Eczacıbaşı Peron İstanbul in Türkiye’s Vodafone Sultanlar Ligi. She joined Eczacıbaşı for the 2025–26 season after two years with Lokomotiv Kaliningrad in Russia.
What number does Ebrar Karakurt wear?
Karakurt wears No. 99 for Eczacıbaşı. The same number has also been closely associated with her national-team career.
What are Ebrar Karakurt’s biggest achievements?
Her major international achievements include winning the 2023 Volleyball Nations League and 2023 European Championship with Türkiye and reaching the 2025 Women’s World Championship final. At club level, she has won the CEV Champions League and Club World Championship with VakıfBank and the Russian Super League with Lokomotiv Kaliningrad.
References
- Eczacıbaşı Spor Kulübü — Ebrar Karakurt official player profile
- Eczacıbaşı Spor Kulübü — 2026–27 Eczacıbaşı Peron İstanbul roster
- Türkiye Volleyball Federation — Türkiye Women’s National Team 2026 VNL extended roster
- CEV — Ebrar Karakurt joins Eczacıbaşı Istanbul
- CEV Champions League — VakıfBank claim the 2026 European title and Final Four Dream Team
- CEV Champions League — Eczacıbaşı looking to return to past glory
- CEV Champions League — Novara with one foot in the 2023 Super Finals
- CEV — 2021 Champions League transfer overview featuring Karakurt’s move to Novara
- Volleyball World — Young Karakurt takes on a bigger role for Türkiye
- Volleyball World — Türkiye secure their first-ever VNL gold in 2023
- Volleyball World — Vargas: The missing piece in the Turkish puzzle
- CEV EuroVolley — Türkiye seal their maiden European Championship trophy in 2023
- Volleyball World — Türkiye reach their first World Championship semifinal after beating the USA in 2025
- Volleyball World — Türkiye reach their first Women’s World Championship final in 2025
- Volleyball World — Italy defeat Türkiye in the 2025 Women’s World Championship final
- Eczacıbaşı Spor Kulübü — September 2026 health update for Ebrar Karakurt
- Volleyball World — Türkiye win 2021 VNL bronze behind Karakurt’s 29-point performance
- CEV — Ebrar Karakurt at the heart of Türkiye’s Olympic start
- CEV — Ebrar Karakurt player competition history
