Christian Fernando Noboa Tello (; born 9 April 1985) is an Ecuadorian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

PFC Sochi Football Club Sochi (russian: Футбольный клуб Сочи, Futbolny Klub Sochi), is a Russian professional football club based in Sochi. The club is playing its home matches at the 47,000-capacity Fisht Stadium. History FC Sochi was ...

and the Ecuador national team as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Emelec

Christian started out at Emelec.

Rubin Kazan

2007–2012

Christian was transferred in 2007 to

FC Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar language, Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in the city o ...

of the

. In 2008, he helped Rubin win its first title of the RPL in history. In 2009, he played in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. On 29 September 2010, as a captain, Noboa helped Rubin Kazan obtain a draw against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in a Champions League match by scoring his side's only goal from a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

Dynamo Moscow

2012

On 26 January 2012 Noboa signed with

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

for £8 million. His first match for Dynamo was on 5 March, in a 0–1 home loss to

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

. He played in 10 league matches for Dynamo in the 2012 season.

2012–13

His first match of the season was on 21 July, in 0–1 away loss to Volga Nizhny Novgorod. His first goal for club and season was on 25 August, in a 3–2 away win against

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three oc ...

, which he later celebrated with tears after not having scored for a while. His next goal came in a 1–2 home loss to Kuban Krasnodar. His third goal of the first half of the season came in a 5–1 away win against league leaders

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

. On 5 April Noboa scored a free-kick goal, in a 1–1 away draw against FK Amkar Perm'. On 21 April, Noboa scored the first goal in a 3–3 away draw against Anzhi.

2013–14

On 3 August he scored the winning goal against Terek Grozny (1–0).

2014–15

It was confirmed on 29 December 2014 that Noboa would not renegotiate terms with his club and is open to offers. On 31 December, the official site of

FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footb ...

issued statement thanking Noboa for his services and wishing him good luck.

P.A.O.K.

On 7 January 2015, it was confirmed that Noboa would be joining

PAOK FC P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of ...

on a 2.5 year contract. In an interview given to a radio station in Ecuador, Noboa revealed that his buy-out clause at PAOK is in the region of €1.5 million. Even though there is not any formal interest yet, Noboa hinted that he could be tempted to move away from PAOK if a Mexican club makes an approach.''“I like the prospect of playing in Mexico. I hope that something concrete may come up. I would be open to play in a club there,”'' Noboa has reportedly said. On 8 January, he made his debut with the club in a 1–0 home win against

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platania ...

, and scored his first goal on 21 February in a 3–1 away win against

Veria Veria ( el, Βέροια or Βέρροια), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of I ...

. He was in contention for the first two games in the Super League play-offs as he is set to travel to Ecuador late in May in order to start preparations for the

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

. The Ecuadorian midfielder revealed that he will fly to his homeland on 27 May in order to be in contention with his National Team ahead of the tournament in Latin America which goes underway two weeks later.

Rostov

On 29 July 2015, Noboa signed a two-year contract with

side

FC Rostov FC Rostov (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб Ростов) is a Russian professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast. The club are members of the Russian Premier League, and play at the Rostov Arena. After the 20 ...

. He scored a goal on his Rostov debut in a 1–0 win over

FC Amkar Perm FC Amkar Perm (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб "Амка́р" Пермь ) is a professional football club. Originally founded in 1994, it is based in the city of Perm. It was a participant in second-tier football from 1995 and ...

on 28 August 2015.

Zenit

On 4 June 2017, Noboa signed a three-year deal with

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in ...

Return to Rubin Kazan

On 18 February 2018, Noboa returned to Rubin on loan from Zenit until the end of the 2017–18 season.

Sochi

On 5 August 2019, he signed a 2-year contract with

newcomers

, joining several other former Zenit players on the squad. As of 25 August 2020, Noboa scored nine goals for FC Sochi, including a late goal against

FC Tambov FC Tambov (russian: ФК Тамбов) was a Russian football team from Tambov. It last played in the Russian Premier League, having won promotion to the top division of Russian football in 2019, before dissolving in 2021. History FC Tambov start ...

on the matchday 5.

International career

Noboa was called up to the Ecuador national team for a series of two unofficial friendly matches in late 2006 against Spanish provincial sides. Under

Sixto Vizuete Sixto Rafael Vizuete Toapanta (born January 13, 1961) is the Ecuadorian football manager. Early career He played for Deportivo Cotopaxi which at that time was promoted to the first division in Ecuador. After his footballing career, he attended ...

's current management, he made his official debut against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in a 2010 World Cup qualifiers. In the match, Noboa scored a wonderful goal to tie the game in the 89th minute for his first international goal. Noboa may have saved Ecuador's qualification dreams as he scored his second goal in as many games against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

on 1 April 2009. On 7 June 2009, in a World Cup qualification match he helped Ecuador beat

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

2–1 in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ecuador's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ecuador goal''.

Personal life

Noboa was married to Russian Olga Romanova, with whom he had two sons, Christopher and Lucas.

Honours

;Rubin Kazan *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

;Zenit Saint Petersburg *

: 2018–19 ;Individual *

Top Assist Provider:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

best player (as chosen by the

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (russian: Российский Футбольный Союз, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it org ...

): 2021–22

References

External links

Christian Noboa profile
at

Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( es, Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's various football competitions and oversees the Ecuador ...

Profile & Statistics
at Guardian's Stats Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Noboa, Christian 1985 births Sportspeople from Guayaquil Living people Association football midfielders Ecuadorian footballers Ecuador international footballers C.S. Emelec footballers FC Rubin Kazan players FC Dynamo Moscow players PAOK FC players FC Rostov players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players PFC Sochi players Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Russia Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Greece Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Ecuadorian Serie A players Russian Premier League players Super League Greece players 2011 Copa América players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players 2021 Copa América players