PAOK FC and the whole black-and-white family wish all the best, good health, happiness and success to Christian Noboa who celebrates his 30th birthday this Thursday.

Christian Noboa was born on 09.04.1985 at Guayaquil, Ecuador, and began playing football at the age of eight, at Filiblanco Academy. He then moved to the youth sections of El Nacional, before signing for Club Sport Emelec when he was 16 years old.

He made his top flight debut on 22.02.2004 in Emelec’s victory over El Nacional. Despite his young age, he was a regular in Néstor Craviotto’s side, thanks to football brain that soon established him as leader of the pack. In his first professional season, he conjured up three goals in 25 appearances, while his overall career at Emelec ended with 8 goals in 89 matches.

His move to Europe coincided with his first cap for the national team of Ecuador in 2007. Kurban Berdyev of FC Rubin Kazan travelled to Spain to meet him and convince him to sign for his relatively unknown Russian side. Noboa agreed and started packing for freezing Kazan, while rejecting proposals from Colombia, Belgium and Portugal. Despite the tough adjustment to his new life and surroundings, the Ecuadorian midfielder soon became a regular in the squad and the vital cog of Rubin as they won two consecutive league titles (2008, 2009). He even became the first foreigner in the history of the club to wear the captain’s armband.

Thanks to Berdyev’s insistence, 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. He 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 the signing of Noboa. 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, 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 Lucas.