Early career A native of
Rey, Iran, Noorafkan started playing football at Ehsan Rey where he played as striker mostly.
Esteghlal Noorafkan joined
Esteghlal as a youth player in 2012 at the age of 15 and played for their under-19 team. During his time in Esteghlal's Under-19, his position was shifted from
striker to left back. A record which was broken by
Mehdi Ghayedi two seasons later. His impressive performances lead him to become a regular member of the starting eleven during 2015–16 season. He finished the season with 11 appearances playing as a left back.
2016–17 season: First team breakthrough in
AFC Champions League qualifying play-off match against
Al Sadd SC He was placed in the starting line up for the season opening match against
Naft Tehran. However, due to a
FIFA imposed transfer ban which lead to Esteghlal's lack of midfield, team manager
Alireza Mansourian, tried Noorafkan in his favorite position as a
defensive midfielder. The position which he played with
Iran U19 as well. Following his stunning display in that role, he secured his place in the team's starting line up. On 27 January 2017, he scored his first professional goal in a 3–2 home win against
Paykan. He scored another goal in a 3–0 win against
Machine Sazi the following week. Earlier in that match he assisted
Ali Ghorbani's goal. On 2 February 2017, he started the
AFC Champions League qualifying play-off match against
Al Sadd SC which Esteghlal won in a 4–3 penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw after extra time. On 12 February he played his first
Tehran derby against city rivals
Persepolis assisting
Kaveh Rezaei's goal as Esteghlal won 3–2. Noorafkan was lauded by Iranian media for his display against Persepolis, marking-out creative
Attacking midfielder Soroush Rafiei as he played an insignificant role in the match against Esteghlal. On 4 April he had an argument with his teammate,
Yaghoub Karimi after being substituted. Due to his behaviour
Alireza Mansourian decided to ban him from group training. He was also excluded from the squad to play against
Gostaresh Foulad on 4 April. On 7 April he finally got the permission to join the team training with the rest of the squad. He was included in the called up squad for the
AFC Champions League match against
Lokomotiv Tashkent but he sat on the bench during the match. He returned to the starting line-up in the match against
Saba Qom on 15 April which resulted in a 2–1 win for Esteghlal. On 29 April he scored a stunner from outside of the box with his weaker foot, in Esteghlal's 2–1 win against
Padideh. He ended the season with 3 goals in 18 appearances in all competition as Esteghlal finished the season in second place in the
league, were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the
Hazfi Cup by
Naft Tehran and qualified from the group stage of
Champions League. He signed a contract extension through 2019 with Esteghlal on 16 June 2017. He was named "
Persian Gulf Pro League Young Player of the Year" by
F.F.I.R.I. at the end of the season.
2017–18 season At the beginning of the season, Noorafkan was banned from playing by the
F.F.I.R.I. along with two other Esteghlal players
Majid Hosseini and
Mehdi Ghaedi as Alireza Mansourian prevented them to join
Iran under-23 camp. After missing the first week of the season, the deprivation from the F.F.I.R.I. was finally cancelled on 29 July 2017 and the players were ready to play for the second week of the 2017–18 campaign. He finally made his season debut on 4 August 2017 in a 0–0 draw against
Esteghlal Khuzestan. On 8 September 2017, he scored his first goal of the season in a 2–1 win over
Gol Gohar in
Hazfi Cup. in December 2017 On 20 December 2017, he was introduced as one of the "100 Best Young Players to Watch in 2018" by outside of the boot website. His first league goal was the game-winning goal in a 2–1 away victory against
Naft Tehran on 29 March. He finished the season with 1 goal in 24 appearances in all competition as Esteghlal finished the season in third in the
2017–18 campaign, won the
Hazfi Cup and qualified for the quarter-finals of
Champions League.
Charleroi On 6 June 2018, Noorafkan signed for
Belgian First Division A club
Charleroi, for a fee reported to be worth around €250,000. He made his official debut for Charleroi in a 3–2 away win over
Genk on 19 August.
Return to Esteghlal On 26 January 2019, Esteghlal re-signed Noorafkan on a six-month loan deal. On 7 February, he made his first league appearance, since leaving Esteghlal in a 4–0 win against
Paykan. ==International career==