PAOK FC announced on Friday the signing of Christian Noboa, who netted a two-and-a-half-year contract until 30 June 2017!

Christian Noboa was born on 9 April 1985 at Guayaquil, Ecuador, and started playing football at the youth ranks of Filiblanco at the age of 8. He then transferred to El Nacional, before CS Emelec moved to sign him at the age of 16.

He made his top flight debut on 22 February 2004, in Emelec’s victory over El Nacional. Despite being still a teenager, he became a starter under Néstor Craviotto due to his tactical nous and talented displays. In his first full professional season, Noboa conjured up 3 goals in 25 appearances, going on to play 89 matches for Emelec and scoring 8 goals.

After earning his first senior cap with Ecuador, in 2007, Noboa came to Europe. Kurban Berdyev of FC Rubin Kazan travelled all the way to Spain to meet with him and convince him to sign for the –unknown back then- Russian outfit. Noboa rejected offers from Colombia, Belgium and Portugal and packed his bags for freezing Kazan.

Despite the tough task of adjusting to his new surroundings, the Ecuadorian midfielder quickly established himself in the starting line-up and became the team’s creative mainspring, as they claimed two consecutive league titles (2008,2009). He was the first foreigner in the history of the club to wear the captain’s armband.

Following Berdyev’s instructions, Noboa adjusted his game to the European style, focusing as well on his defensive duties and finally becoming a consummate box-to-box midfielder with a sound reading of the game, dictating place, controlling ball circulation, launching attacks and, when presented with the opportunity, also finishing plays with his excellent shots. His most important goal however was a spot kick that earned Rubin a famous win over FC Barcelona, where Xavi, his role model, plays. Noboa went on to appear in 140 matches , score 27 goals and serve 14 assists at Rubin Kazan –two of those assists in the UEFA Europa League encounters against PAOK (2-2 at Kazan, 1-1 at Toumba).

After having rejected offers from top European clubs such as Borussia Dortmund and SSC Napoli, Rubin Kazan accepted FC Dinamo Moskva’s bid of 8 million euros in 2012 for Noboa’s signing. He became a vital cog of the Moscovite outfit as well, playing in 92 matches, scoring 12 goals and producing 11 assists.

He has already 48 caps and 3 goals with Ecuador and participated with them in the recent World Cup finals.

Christian Noboa, the son of Sonia and Fernando, has two brothers, Roberto and David. The latter is also a footballer and currently plays for Emelec. Christian is married to Olya Romanova and they have two sons, Christopher and Lúcas.