Huang Bowen (; born 13 July 1987) is a Chinese former professional footballer who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Huang Bowen started his football career with

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

when he was promoted to the club's first team in the 2004 season. As a promising youngster, he made his debut for the club on 26 May 2004 in a 4–1 win against

Shenyang Ginde Guangzhou City Football Club () was a Chinese professional football club which last competed in the Chinese Super League. The team was based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The club's name between 2011 and 2020 was Guangzhou R&F, which was short for ' ...

that also saw Huang score his first goal, at the age of 16 years and 317 days, he held the record as the youngest ever goalscorer in top tier Chinese football for nearly 19 years, until it being broken by Shahsat Hujahmat in April 2023. By the end of his debut season, he'd played in six league games. Although these were often as a substitute, he would gradually start to establish himself within the senior team. In the subsequent seasons, he continued to make substitute appearances and gradually established himself as a regular for the club. It wasn't until the 2007 season that Huang started to establish himself as an integral member of the Beijing squad, helping them finish as runners-up in the league. On 10 February 2011, Huang transferred to

K-League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League titles, the top conti ...

side

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Jeonbuk have won the K League a record nine times, including ...

. He made his debut for the club on 6 March 2011 in a 1–0 loss against

Chunnam Dragons The Jeonnam Dragons () are a South Korean professional football club based in the city of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. The Dragons play their home matches at the Gw ...

. This was followed by his first goal for the club in an

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

game on 6 March 2011 in a 4–0 win against

Arema FC Arema Football Club is an Indonesian professional association football, football club based in Malang Regency, Malang, East Java. The club competes in the Liga 1 (Indonesia), Liga 1, the top flight of Football in Indonesia, Indonesian Footba ...

. On 7 July 2012, Huang transferred to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

side

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club (), previously Guangzhou Evergrande (), was a Chinese professional football club based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Historically, Guangzhou FC played its home matches at various grounds in their home city, most notably at T ...

. He was a vital part of Guangzhou's winning run in the

2013 AFC Champions League The 2013 AFC Champions League was the 32nd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 11th under the current AFC Champions League title. The defending champions, Ulsan ...

as the club became only the second Chinese side to win a continental title. On 13 August 2017, Huang suffered a lumbar fracture during a league match against

Henan Jianye Henan Football Club (), currently known as Henan F.C. Jiuzu Dukang () for sponsorship reasons, is a Chinese professional football club based in Zhengzhou, Henan, that competes in . Henan plays their home matches at the Hanghai Stadium, located wi ...

when he was knocked off balance by

Ricardo Vaz Tê Ricardo Jorge Vaz Tê (born 1 October 1986) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a forward. During his career, Vaz Tê played for English clubs Bolton Wanderers, Hull City, Barnsley and West Ham United, Greek club Panion ...

, which ruled him out for the rest of the season. On 25 April 2023, Huang announced his retirement from professional football. In a heartfelt statement posted on social media, he thanked every club he has played for during his career and apologized to Beijing Guoan fans for not rejoining the club as promised when returning from South Korea.

International career

Huang made his debut for the Chinese national team on 25 May 2008 in a 2–0 win against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. Despite his age and inexperience, then manager

Vladimir Petrović Vladimir Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Петровић, ; born 1 July 1955) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon (), after the French for ''pigeon''. Club career Dur ...

let Huang play in a crucial

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

game with only one cap to his name in a 1–0 loss against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, essentially knocking China out of qualification. While he did not take part any further in the remaining qualification games, he returned to the national team when he took part at the

2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification saw various countries take part to determine 10 spots to the final tournament in Qatar under the new qualification system set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Six other teams also qualified for th ...

under caretaker

Yin Tiesheng Yin Tiesheng (; born August 16, 1956, in Jinan, Shandong, China) is a Chinese former football player who is currently a manager. Playing career As a player, Yin Tiesheng started his career playing for the Shandong youth team and by 1974 he was ...

. On 29 March 2016, Huang opened the scoring in a 2–0 home win against

in the last game of the second round of the

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) The Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, for national teams which were members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). 4.5 slots (four direct slots and one int ...

. The goal was widely regarded as an iconic moment in Huang's career as well as Chinese football history, as the win saw China reach the final round of World Cup qualifying stages for the first time since 2001.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Beijing Guoan *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Guangzhou Evergrande *Chinese Super League:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title. H ...

Chinese FA Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a Chinese football super cup competition that takes place every year before the start of the new season. It is contested between the champions of the previous Chinese Su ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

China *

East Asian Football Championship EAFF E-1 Football Championship, known as the East Asian Football Championship from 2003 to 2010, and the EAFF East Asian Cup for the 2013 and 2015 editions, is a men's international football competition in East Asia for member nations of the East ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Individual *

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...

Young Player of the Year:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

*Chinese Super League Team of the Year:

*AFC Champions League Dream Team:

Notes

References

External links

* *
Player stats
at Sohu.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Bowen 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Changsha Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Hunan China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Chinese expatriate men's footballers Beijing Guoan F.C. players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Guangzhou F.C. players K League 1 players Men's association football midfielders Chinese expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea 2011 AFC Asian Cup players Chinese Super League players AFC Champions League Elite–winning players