Huang Bowen (Chinese: 黄博文; pinyin: Huáng Bówén; born 13 July 1987) is a Chinese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Club career
Huang Bowen started his football career with Beijing Guoan 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 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.[2] 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.[2] 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.[3]
On 7 July 2012, Huang transferred to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande.[5] He was a vital part of Guangzhou's winning run in the 2013 AFC Champions League 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 when he was knocked off balance by Ricardo Vaz Tê, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.[6]
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.[7]
International career
Huang made his debut for the Chinese national team on 25 May 2008 in a 2–0 win against Jordan.[8] Despite his age and inexperience, then manager Vladimir Petrović let Huang play in a crucial 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification game with only one cap to his name in a 1–0 loss against Qatar, essentially knocking China out of qualification.[9] 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 under caretaker Yin Tiesheng.
On 29 March 2016, Huang opened the scoring in a 2–0 home win against Qatar in the last game of the second round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC). 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.[10]
