Noble Okello Ayo (born July 20, 2000) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

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 ...

Early life

Okello began playing soccer at age six with the North York Hearts SC. He later played for Mooredale SC before joining the

Toronto FC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 young players. The senior academy team is ...

in 2013. On August 20, 2017, he was part of the U17 side that beat Juventus U17 to capture the inaugural International Youth Soccer Cup.

Club career

Toronto FC

In 2016, he appeared in one match for

Toronto FC III Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian so ...

. In 2017, he scored one goal in 13 appearances and made a further two appearances in 2018. In September 2017, Okello signed his first professional contract with

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as i ...

in the

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

. On October 6, 2017, he made his professional debut against

Bethlehem Steel FC Philadelphia Union II is an American professional soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania competing in MLS Next Pro. Founded in 2015 as Bethlehem Steel FC, the team is the official affiliate of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. T ...

. Following the conclusion of USL season, Okello was invited to train with the U19 team of

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

. On January 10, 2018, he played a full 90 minutes for their U19 side in a 2–1 victory over

Hallescher FC Hallescher FC, sometimes still called by its former popular name Chemie Halle, is a German association football club based in Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third highest level in the German footb ...

where he scored the equalizing goal in the 88th minute He then returned to Toronto, to join the

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

first team's 2018 pre-season training camp. It was later reported that

had made three separate transfer bids to sign Okello, which would see his club receive a six figure transfer fee in addition to appearance fees and sell on percentage fee. In January 2019, Okello signed a first-team contract with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. He made his first-team debut for Toronto on August 14 against

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were diss ...

in the second leg of their

2019 Canadian Championship The 2019 Canadian Championship was the twelfth edition of the Canadian Championship, contested from May 15 to September 25, 2019. Montreal Impact won their fourth Canadian Championship title (their tenth Voyageurs Cup) and earned a berth in the ...

semi-final series. He made his MLS debut on July 21, 2020, against the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

. He was loaned to the second team for some matches in 2021. He scored his first goal for TFCII on June 30, converting a penalty kick against

Tormenta FC South Georgia Tormenta FC is an American soccer organization based in Statesboro, Georgia, United States. Founded in 2015, the club fields a professional team in USL League One, the third tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, as well as a pre-pr ...

. Upon completion of the 2021 season, Okello's option for the 2022 season would be picked up by Toronto. After appearing in four of the first five matches of the 2022 season, Okello suffered an injury that kept him out of action for five months. After the end of the 2022 season, he departed the club, upon the expiry of his contract.

Loan to HB Køge

On September 25, 2020, Okello was sent out on loan to

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

club

HB Køge HB Køge () is a professional Danish football club based primarily in the town of Herfølge, and secondly in the town of Køge, both in the Køge Municipality, part of 'Region of Zealand', in the eastern part of Zealand, south of Copenhagen. It w ...

, the same club that his teammate

Rocco Romeo Antonio Rocco Romeo (born March 25, 2000) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a centre-back for Vancouver FC. Early life Born in Toronto, Ontario, Romeo began playing youth soccer with Bolton Wanderers SC, before moving on t ...

was also on loan with. On September 30, he made his debut for Køge, coming on as a second-half substitute and scored a goal from 35 metres out.

International career

Okello made his debut in the Canadian youth system attending a camp in September 2016 with the Canada U17 team. He was named to the roster for the

2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2017 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (18th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in Panama between 21 ...

, where he made his international debut on April 22, 2017 against Costa Rica U17. In May 2018, Okello was called up to the Canadian U21 side for the

2018 Toulon Tournament The 2018 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 46ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 46th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 26 May to 9 June 2018. Engl ...

. In October 2018, Okello was named to the Canadian U20 squad for the

2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (27th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted at Bradenton, Florida, ...

. He scored a brace in the tournament opener against

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

, a 4–0 victory. Okello was named to the Canadian U-23 provisional roster for the

2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fifteenth and final edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organised by CONCACAF to determine which men's ...

on February 26, 2020. Okello was named to the Canadian senior team for the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in th ...

. Okello made his senior debut on January 7, 2020, against

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

as a substitute in a 4–1 victory.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okello, Noble 2000 births Living people Canadian soccer players Canadian expatriate soccer players Black Canadian soccer players Association football midfielders League1 Ontario players Soccer players from Toronto Toronto FC players Toronto FC II players HB Køge players USL Championship players USL League One players Canadian people of Ugandan descent Homegrown Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players