Tolunay Kafkas was born in 1968 in Ankara. He began playing soccer for Ankara PTT. He played for Keçiörengücü, Diyarbakırspor, Erzurumspor ve Konyaspor and Trabzonspor. He then transferred to Galatasaray, afterwards playing for Bursaspor and Denizlispor. He ended his career as a soccer player after playing for 3 different teams in Austria. He played for the Turkish National team 35 times. He then became a football manager for U 19 National Team, Kayserispor, Gaziantepspor, Trabzonspor, Karabukspor and Akhisarspor, winning the Turkish Cup for Kayserispor. Between 2011-2013 he served as the Soccer Development Director at TFF and football manager for Turkey's U21 National Soccer Team. Since August 2017, Kafkas has been the Soccer Development Director and is also responsible for Turkey's Youth Football Team.