Jens Petter Hauge celebrates after scoring during the UEFA Europa League match between Celtic and AC Milan at Celtic Park on October 22, 2020 (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
From a bird’s-eye view, there’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary about the final eight teams standing in the UEFA Europa League. There are English powerhouses Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, Spanish colossus Athletic Club, French titans Lyon, Italian behemoths Lazio, German heavyweights Eintracht Frankfurt, and Scottish giants Rangers.
And then, there it is. Sticking out like an igloo in the Sahara. The only team that, apart from Rangers, isn’t playing in Europe’s top 5 leagues. The only team that, prior to 2020, had never won a top-flight championship in its entire history. Fotballklubben Bodø/Glimt.
Three years after losing to Roma in the Europa League quarterfinals, Bodø/Glimt will be looking to upstage Roma’s crosstown rivals Lazio and become the first-ever Norwegian team to reach the final four of a European competition. And if they are to make it to the semis, they’ll need Jens Petter Hauge to be at his brilliant best.
Humble Beginnings in Norway
Born in Bodø, Hauge joined Bodø/Glimt’s academy at 12 years old and skyrocketed through the ranks before signing a professional contract on April 12, 2016. One day later, he came off the bench in the 64th minute and scored a hat-trick on his senior debut, leading them to a 6-0 cup win against IK Start.
“You sacrifice a lot to become a professional footballer, but for me, it was always my dream,” stated Hauge in an exclusive RG interview. “You have to train better than the other guys, you have to avoid going to parties and staying out late with friends. It was always a little bit boring to come back to school on Monday morning, and the other 20 people in class were speaking about the weekend, what they did on Friday and Saturday and how they didn’t even get up from bed on Sunday…I missed out on a lot of fun things, but it’s part of the life and I’m really happy with the choices I made.”
Hauge featured regularly and even became the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer in the Eliteserien, but he wasn’t able to prevent them from suffering relegation. As they would come to find out, it would be one step backward, and four steps forward: Hauge excelled in the second division, scoring 2 goals and 13 assists in 2017 and securing promotion for Bodø, who have since transformed themselves from relegation candidates to all-conquering champions of Norway and perennial European participants.
“Relegation was one of the hardest things I’ve gone through in football, but I think it made the whole club better. In my first season, we always struggled; we didn’t have so much of the ball and didn’t attack much, it was more about defending, surviving, and hoping for a result,” said Hauge. “At the time, we were a very young team, and to go and be the best team in the second tier was good for our careers because we learned about taking responsibility, controlling the game, and focusing more on ourselves and how we wanted to play. The club used their time in the second division really well, we found our identity and the path forward…we haven’t looked back since.”
Hauge failed to build on his momentum and was loaned out to second-tier Aalesunds FK, but he would take the top-flight by storm in 2019, scoring 9 goals and 3 assists in 29 appearances across all competitions. Whilst the pandemic forced him to wait six months before playing another official match, patience proved to be a virtue for Hauge, who racked up 14 goals and 10 assists in 18 league appearances and was named the Eliteserien Young Player of the Year, whilst he also grabbed a goal and an assist in a Europa League qualifier vs. Milan. One week later, Hauge joined Milan for €5 million, penning a five-year contract.
Trying his Luck in Europe’s Top Five Leagues
The next few months would see Hauge make his Norway debut, score in three of his five UEFA Europa League matches, and watch from afar as Bodø/Glimt claimed the first top-level league title in their 104-year history – since then, they’ve won three championships and finished as runners-up once. However, he never quite managed to lock down a place in Milan’s starting line-up and ended up joining Eintracht in August 2021.
“Moving to Milan in the middle of a pandemic was a big step, but it also made me who I am today.
Bodø was nowhere near Milan in terms of the club’s size or the city; the way we live in Bodø is a lot simpler. At the time, I was really happy there and doing my best. In the beginning I was scoring goals, playing a lot and helping the team, but in the final months before the summer, I spent more time on the bench which made me a little bit more stressed than I should’ve been,” said Hauge. “I decided to go to Frankfurt, which I felt was the perfect step for me…they had a clear vision, and a good plan for me. I don’t regret anything, but of course, I could’ve maybe been more patient because I was in such a good space at such a big club. In the end, I’m happy with the decision and I’m happy with how I spent my months in Milan.”
Hauge enjoyed a seamless transition to life in Germany, scoring in two of his first three Bundesliga matches and excelling in a variety of attacking positions under Oliver Glasner as Eintracht finished 11th in the table and exited the DFB-Pokal in the first round. In the UEFA Europa League, Eintracht knocked out Real Betis, Barcelona and West Ham before edging Rangers on penalties to secure their first continental trophy in 42 years. But despite playing 38 matches and prompting Eintracht to activate their purchase option, Hauge left after one season and joined Belgian side Gent, where he failed to score in his 29 appearances, before returning and being used sporadically off the bench.
Desperate for regular minutes, Hauge returned to Bodø/Glimt in January 2024 on loan. He immediately picked up where he left off, bagging an assist in his first two matches vs. Ajax and grabbing 8 goals and 5 assists in 28 appearances en route to another championship. It’s been more of the same for Hauge this season, emerging as a vital cog in attack and earning a return to the Norwegian national team after more than two years away.
Back Like He Never Left
Similar to his boyhood idol Eden Hazard, Hauge is a nimble winger who thrives at driving at defenders, cutting in from the left flank and letting loose with a ferocious shot or expertly timed through ball, and who can change gears at a moment’s notice and leave his marker chasing shadows.
We saw this in his first game of the 2024/25 Europa League season, trapping the ball at the halfway line and destroying Porto’s defense with an incisive lofted pass to Kasper Høgh, who converted from close range. He then scored the go-ahead goal before sealing the comeback victory for 10-man Bodø at the hour mark, timing his run to perfection, freezing his man, and quickly shifting the ball backwards before firing a rocket into the back of the net. Two months later, Hauge scored his first-ever goal for Norway’s senior team, putting the finishing touches on a 4-1 win in Slovenia.
Bodø/Glimt have continued their upward momentum by knocking out Dutch side Twente and reigning Conference League champions Olympiacos en route to the quarterfinals, and Hauge has proven vital, leading the squad for Expected Assists (2.68) and successful dribbles per 90 (2.5) in the UEFA Europa League, whilst he’s third for goal contributions (4) and key passes per 90 (1.4). And on Thursday, they’ll be looking to lead them to victory in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals against Lazio.
“When the referee blows the whistle, everything about the size of the city you’re from doesn’t matter, it’s 11 against 11. It’s going to be a tough match, but the chances are there, and I think Lazio have more fear of losing than we do,” said Hauge.
“They’ve been mocking Roma fans and players for four years ever since they lost 6-1 here, and now they also have the chance to lose to us. We just need to focus on ourselves, forget we’re playing a Europa League quarterfinal, and do our best. If we believe in ourselves and trust the people around us, anything can happen.”
At 25 years old, Hauge is relishing his return to Bodø/Glimt, who purchased him in January for an initial €3.5 million and signed him to a contract through December 31, 2028. He can bond with his childhood friends, play chess, bask in Bodø’s natural wonders, improve his relationship with manager Kjetil Knutsen – who has been in charge since 2018 – and continue establishing his legacy for one of the world’s most unique clubs, who are just five games away from winning the Europa League trophy in Bilbao, qualifying for the Champions League, and claiming €13 million in prize money.
There are plenty of idiosyncrasies that stand out from Bodø/Glimt. In contrast to other leagues that have a brief winter break, the Eliteserien’s pause lasts from the first week of December to the final week of March. An eight-hour drive away from the nearest city and 16 hours away from Norway’s capital of Oslo, Bodø wasn’t even allowed to compete in the top flight until 1971 due to logistical complications, but that didn’t stop supporters from turning out in droves and bringing giant yellow toothbrushes to matches.
Unlike other teams that have a wide range of international stars, Bodø’s entire squad is composed of Norwegians, apart from four Danish players and a Russian goalkeeper. Bodø’s combined market value is €43.15 million, nearly half as much as the next-lowest Europa League club in Rangers (€79.45m) and well below Lazio (€290.60m). What’s more, you could fit the entire population of Bodø into Lazio’s Stadio Olimpico, and still have 19,000 seats remaining.
As one of the northernmost cities on the planet, Bodø experiences two natural phenomena: polar night, a prolonged period of darkness in the winter, and midnight sun, where the sun remains visible all day in the summer. Today, the sun is shining on Bodø, and they’ll be counting on Jens Petter Hauge as they seek to make history and pull off an epic upset against Lazio. After bouncing around from Italy to Germany to Belgium, Hauge is back in his hometown and walking on sunshine, and he’ll be looking to help a club located 200 kilometers above the Arctic Circle continue punching above their weight.
Zach Lowy is a freelance football journalist who has written for leading outlets like FotMob, BetUS, Apuestas Deportivas, and who has appeared as a radio and television guest for BBC, SiriusXMFC, and various other platforms. After pursuing a global sports journalism degree at George Washington University, Zach has been able to tap into his multilingual background and interview major footballing figures in Spanish and Portuguese as well as operate the weekly podcast 'Zach Lowy's European Football Show' on BET Central.
