[4] His father Benjamin was one of the first to play for newly founded Assyriska FF, a club established by the Assyrian diaspora,[5] going on to become its record goal scorer.

[8] On 4 July 1999, Bakircioglu made his continental debut in the second round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup, a 4–0 home victory over FC Gomel.

[14] His team, however, suffered a tough year in the table and failed to produce any sort of challenge, eventually ending in ninth position.

The decision was, however, revoked after only a few days,[21] roughly at the same time as the team was surpassed by city rivals Djurgårdens IF at the top of table and eventually finished second.

Bakircioglu moved teams and countries again in the 2005 off-season, joining FC Twente in the Netherlands and impressing manager Fred Rutten straight away to become a first-team regular.

[27][28] In August 2008, new manager Marco van Basten deemed Bakircioglu surplus to requirements,[29] but the latter decided to stay,[30] being restricted to only 17 league games over two seasons.

He did manage, however, a crucial goal for the Amsterdam team, in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, in a 1–0 away win against ACF Fiorentina in the round of 32 (2–1 aggregate victory).

[37] Bakircioglu spent the vast majority of 2011–12 nursing an achilles tendon injury,[38] and Racing would also return to Segunda División after one full decade in the top flight.

[40] Bakircioglu led all scorers with 17 goals and contributed seven decisive passes in the 2014 campaign, helping to a return to the top division whilst also acting as captain.

[44] On 1 October 2018, at the end of his last season, he scored from a spectacular free kick to make it 3–0 in the league fixture against IFK Göteborg, and proceeded to celebrate the goal in front of the home fans by catching and drinking from a cup of beer that was thrown towards him from the stands.

[14] Bakircioglu gained fame and cult status early in his career thanks to the computer game Championship Manager: Season 01/02, where he was considered one of the greatest "hidden gem" players of all time.