John Hou Sæter (born 13 January 1998), also known by his

Chinese name Chinese names or Chinese personal names are names used by individuals from Greater China and other parts of the Chinese-speaking world throughout East and Southeast Asia (ESEA). In addition, many names used in Japan, Korea and Vietnam are often a ...

Hou Yongyong (), is a professional footballer 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 ...

for

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

club

Ranheim Ranheim is a neighbourhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Østbyen. The neighbourhood approximately to the east of the centre of Trondheim. It comprises Olderdalen, Væretrøa, Reppe, and ...

. Sæter has represented Norway at several youth levels; however, he was

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

as a Chinese citizen in 2019.

Club career

Early career

John Hou Sæter started his football career when he joined Rosenborg's youth academy in 2013. He made his debut for the club on 24 April 2014 in a 3–0 win against Orkla FK in the 2014 Norwegian Football Cup, becoming the youngest player ever to make his debut for Rosenborg aged 16 years and 101 days. He made his league debut on 28 September 2014 in a 3–0 win against Aalesund, coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute. He became the youngest player ever to make his league debut for the club aged 16 years and 258 days. In August 2016, Hou Sæter signed a new two-year contract with Rosenborg before being loaned to

side

until the end of the 2016 season. In July 2017, Hou Sæter transferred to fellow

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

side Stabæk.

Beijing Guoan

In January 2019, Hou Sæter gained Chinese citizenship and transferred to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in the Chaoyang District in Beijing and their ho ...

. He made his debut for the club on 23 February 2019 in a 2–0 loss against

Shanghai SIPG Shanghai Port FC (), previously named Shanghai SIPG, is a professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Pudong, Shanghai, and their home sta ...

in the 2019 Chinese FA Super Cup, coming on as a substitute for

Chi Zhongguo Chi Zhongguo (; ) is a Chinese footballer of Korean ethnicity who currently plays for Beijing Sinobo Guoan in the Chinese Super League. Club career Chi decided to turn professional after he graduated from Yanbian No.1 Middle School in 2008. Aft ...

in the 71st minute. This made Hou Sæter the first naturalized player in the professional Chinese leagues. Hou Sæter left the team at the end of 2022 and returned to

after his contract with Guoan ended.

Personal life

Born to a Norwegian father and a Chinese mother from

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, Hou Sæter's

is Hou Yongyong. When Hou Sæter was 10 years old, he participated in an international football competition arranged by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He was chosen as one of 37 from a group of about 20,000 participants to come attend the finale in Manchester. He finished second in the competition and received an award from

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cu ...

, only beaten by a boy who was a year older than him.

Career statistics

Honours

Rosenborg *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Norwegian Football Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

References

External links

Profile
at RBK.no (archived 21 February 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hou Saeter, John 1998 births Living people Footballers from Trondheim Sportspeople from Henan Sportspeople of Chinese descent Norwegian footballers Norway youth international footballers China youth international footballers Chinese footballers Norwegian people of Chinese descent Chinese people of Norwegian descent Naturalized citizens of the People's Republic of China Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in China Rosenborg BK players Eliteserien players Ranheim Fotball players Stabæk Fotball players Beijing Guoan F.C. players Norwegian First Division players Chinese Super League players Association football midfielders