Nooa Hamzah Laine, also known as Nooa, a Finnish-Malaysian heritage footballer, was officially revealed today as our new Red Giants player on a one-year loan (with the option to buy permanently) to compete in the Malaysian League for the 2024/2025 season.

Nooa's journey in the professional football scene began in Ykkönen, the second division of the Finnish League, with his hometown club, Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi or better known as JJK Jyväskylä in 2018. He managed to make 15 appearances and scored one goal in the first year of his professional career.

He joined HJK Helsinki's development squad, Klubi 04, playing in 2019 and 2020. Nooa made 26 appearances and scored 5 goals during his two seasons with the club.

Nooa's following season was his breakthrough season, as he was promoted to the first team of Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho, commonly known as SJK Seinäjoki, after 16 games with the club's youth squad. This midfielder's career went on an upward trajectory from then on after appearing in 64 games and scoring four goals for SJK Seinäjoki in the Veikkausliiga, division one of the Finnish League, for three seasons from 2021 to 2023.

In 2022, he received a national call-up and helped the Malaysian U23 side qualify for the U23 Asian Cup in Qatar during the qualifying rounds against the Philippines and Thailand, where Nooa started both matches. His outstanding performance with the national U23 team piqued the interest of Malaysia’s Head Coach, Kim Pan Gon, and he made his Harimau Malaya debut on March 23rd, 2023, in an international friendly against Turkmenistan.

Nooa, 22, had previously played for Finland's under-15, under-16, and under-17 years old teams before making the switch to play for Malaysia. 

According to Nooa Laine, he chose Selangor FC because he was interested in the club's vision and ambition, "Selangor FC contacted me a long time ago to explain the role and importance to the team. Since then, I have also heard a lot of positive things about the culture and direction of the club from my teammates in the Malaysian national squad. To be honest, I am happy with my decision to be with this team because I am confident that we can achieve our goals and be successful together."

"Among the strengths I have is that I can bring balance to the game in midfield, I can also able to score longe-range goals and can play in various positions which will be beneficial to the team this season. For me, playing under the care of Tan Cheng Hoe means I will learn many things to further develop my talent as a player and it will also help the team in the future because I am sure he is a great coach," answered Nooa after being asked about his strengths and his views on the team's Head Coach.

When asked about adapting, Nooa is not expected to have any difficulty as he has often played, and trained here, while also being already familiar with a few teammates from the national U23 squad, "This is not my first time here; I have played and trained in Malaysia before. I also know some current teammates from the national U23 squad. They will definitely help me in quickly adapting to the team," said Nooa at ease.

He is also looking forward to playing in front of the Red Giants fans, "I have seen some videos of the Selangor FC fans that are always there to support the team in all their matches, and it makes me excited to perform in front of you all. I hope to see you soon."

Selangor FC hopes that Nooa Laine can strengthen the Red Giants team's midfield for the 2024/2025 Malaysian League season and the 2024 ACL 2 competition. Welcome to the family, Nooa!

Nooa Laine is the fifth latest player to be introduced to the main squad after Selangor FC introduced defender, Umarbek Eshmurodov, Chilean striker, Ronnie Fernández, winger, Alvin Fortes and young goalkeeper, Azim Al Amin recently.

Follow Selangor FC on all our social media to get the latest info on the team's preparations for the 2024/2025 season.

Demi Kebanggaan!