Henning Hauger (born 17 July 1985) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bærum. He has previously played for Stabæk, Hannover 96, Lillestrøm, Strømsgodset and Swedish club IF Elfsborg and has been capped 23 times while playing for Norway. Hauger represented Norway from under-16 to Norway U-21 before he made his senior debut in 2006, and was playing regularly as a holding midfielder in Egil "Drillo" Olsen's team between 2008 and 2011. Early life Hauger was born in Bærum into a family of sportspeople; his father Børre, his uncle Lars and his brother Andreas played both bandy and football for Stabæk IF. Børre and Lars played for the Norwegian national bandy team, and Andreas won the 1998 Norwegian Football Cup with Stabæk Fotball, when he came on as a substitute in the final. Henning Hauger grew up in Bærum, he was often attending Stabæk Fotball's home-matches in Tippeligaen supporting the team. Club career Hauger made his debut for Stabæk's first-team against Odd Grenland on 21 April 2003, when he replaced Tryggvi Guðmundsson as a substitute in the 78th minute. The next season, Hauger made 16 appearances for Stabæk, and when the team was relegated from Tippeligaen other Norwegian clubs contacted Stabæk's director of sports, Jan-Erik Aalbu and wanted to sign the youngster. Hauger stayed with Stabæk in the First Division and was one of the best players at the second tier when the club won promotion back to Tippeligaen in the 2005 season. Hauger was not playing regularly for Stabæk in the first half of the 2008 season, and when Espen Hoff joined the club from Lyn mid-season, the two clubs were talking about transferring Hauger the other way. However, Hauger became a regular in Stabæk's starting line-up in the second half of the season when Stabæk won Tippeligaen, and played the 2008 Norwegian Football Cup Final, which Vålerenga won 4–1. After Stabæk's coach Jan Jönsson moved to Rosenborg ahead of the 2011 season, he stated that he wanted to sign Hauger, whose contract expired after the season, and dubbed Hauger as one of the best footballers in Norway. Stabæk was unwilling to sell Hauger to another Norwegian club, and Hauger played for Stabæk until August 2011, when he was sold to German side Hannover 96. He had been wearing the number 7 shirt for many years in Stabæk, but as this was already taken by