Mushagalusa Bakenga Joar Bahati Namugunga (born 8 August 1992) is a Norwegian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Stabæk.

Career

At a very young age Bakenga was spotted, his rise to the first team is testament to his undoubted ability to score goals. From the age of 13 he had averaged over 50 goals a season, with these performances linking him to

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Bakenga began his career with

SK Nationalkameratene Sportsklubben Nationalkameratene is a Norwegian sports club from Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag. It has sections for association football and team handball. It was established on 21 May 1920. The men's football team currently plays in the Fifth Di ...

and joined

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

in February 2007. He was on trial with Chelsea's academy in the spring. From 2009 he trained with Rosenborg's senior team twice a week. He also played on the Norwegian u-19 national team, despite not being 17 years old yet. His first selection in the senior squad came in August 2009 against Bodø/Glimt, but he did not play. His actual début in the Tippeligaen came on 23 September 2009 against

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

. He nearly scored in the goalless draw—a goal from Bakenga would have secured the league title for Rosenborg. In 2010, Bakenga was plagued by injuries and played only a few matches for Rosenborg. But, after scoring six times in pre-season, Bakenga secured a position in the starting line-up at the start of

2011 Tippeligaen The 2011 Tippeligaen was the 67th completed season of top division football in Norway. The competition began on 20 March 2011 and ended on 27 November 2011. Rosenborg were the defending champions, having secured their twenty-second League Cham ...

. He scored Rosenborg's only goal in the loss against Brann, before a wonderful strike against Stabæk. Mush scored 12 league goals in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In January 2012,

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

offered 10 million

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

(± €1.3m) for Bakenga, but Rosenborg rejected the offer. Later in January, Rosenborg received another offer for Bakenga, this time for €2.6m from

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. Rosenborg accepted, and Bakenga signed a five-and-a-half-year contract on 28 January. He scored in his debut for Club Brugge, in the 5–1 win against

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen, or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the second-tier First Division B after relegating from the top tier in the 2021–22 season. In 201 ...

on 5 February 2012. It was not only the goal that he will remember from his debut: "I never ran so fast in my life. I did not even have time to explain to the coach what was wrong. Luckily I just made it in time," said Bakenga, having to run to the toilet during his debut match. Bakenga played in the 2013 Belgian Cup Final, which Cercle lost 2–0 against Genk. On 8 July 2014, he joined German club

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

on a one-year loan deal. On 18 March 2015, Bakenga cut short his Eintracht Braunschweig loan deal, signing a one-year loan deal with Norwegian champions

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to ...

. On 30 March, seven minutes into his first match for Molde FK, he was carried off the pitch with a torn

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

, sidelining him for at least six months. In July 2016, Bakenga returned to Rosenborg.

International career

Bakenga has represented Norway from under-15 level up to under-21 level. He scored a hat-trick for the under-19 team in the match against Moldova U19 in April 2011. Later the same year he made his debut for the under-21 team later the same year. He was not included in the Norwegian squad for the

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

, but scored four goals for the "new" under-21 team in the match against Poland U21 on 10 June 2013. Having never appeared in a competitive match for Norway, Bakenga remains potentially eligible for

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Career statistics

Honours

Rosenborg * Tippeligaen and

Eliteserien 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 ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Norwegian 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 ...

Superfinalen Mesterfinalen ( en, Champions Final), also known as UNICEF Mesterfinalen due to its cooperation with UNICEF, is a Norwegian association football competition contested between the champions of the previous Eliteserien season and the holders of th ...

Mesterfinalen Mesterfinalen ( en, Champions Final), also known as UNICEF Mesterfinalen due to its cooperation with UNICEF, is a Norwegian association football competition contested between the champions of the previous Eliteserien season and the holders of the ...

* Norwegian U-19 Championship: 2009, 2011 Cercle Brugge * Belgian Cup runners-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Personal life

His parents hail from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. He's the nephew of doctor Denis Mukwege.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakenga, Mushaga Articles using sports links with data from Wikidata 1992 births Living people Footballers from Trondheim Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Norway men's international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Eliteserien players Belgian Pro League players Danish Superliga players 2. Bundesliga players J1 League players Rosenborg BK players Club Brugge KV players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Esbjerg fB players Eintracht Braunschweig players Molde FK players Tromsø IL players Ranheim Fotball players Odds BK players Tokushima Vortis players Norwegian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Germany