İsmail Köybaşı was born on 10 July 1989 in a family of a salesman and a housewife. The family lived in the large seaport town İskenderun, which can be found in the southern part of Turkey. Ismail started playing football at the age of 7, when his parents made him join the football youth academy of Gaziantepspor FC. The club is based in the city of Gaziantep, which is not far from his home town. He immediately started to demonstrate power style of play, was exceptionally good at tackling and possessed good speed. After finishing the academy the player signed his first contract and spent two years with the youth team. Later he was offered a first-team defender role. He spent just one season (2008/2009) in Gaziantepspor, played in 23 games and scored two goals.
In 2009 Köybaşı was offered to pass the trial in Beşiktaş, where he impressed the head coach Mustafa Denizli. As a result he was transferred to Beşiktaş for 3 million dollars and signed a 2-year contract, which was later prolonged till 2013.
Ismail is currently the first-choice left-back in the club. In the 2011/2012 season he made 31 appearances out of 34 games played by Beşiktaş. The player also featured in UEFA Champions League and Europa Cup fixtures.
As for his international career, Köybaşı played two matches for the Turkey national team during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualification.
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