| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rocky Bushiri Kisonga[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1999-11-30)30 November 1999 (age 25) | ||
| Place of birth | Duffel, Belgium | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Hibernian | ||
| Number | 33 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2014–2017 | K.V. Oostende | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2017–2019 | K.V. Oostende | 2 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | →Eupen (loan) | 23 | (0) |
| 2019–2022 | Norwich City | 0 | (0) |
| 2019 | →Blackpool (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2020 | →Sint-Truiden (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| 2020–2021 | →Mechelen (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2021 | →Eupen (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2022 | →Hibernian (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 2022– | Hibernian | 71 | (6) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2017 | Belgium U19 | 2 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Belgium U21 | 7 | (0) |
| 2023– | DR Congo | 4 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 01:20, 31 August 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 01:19, 31 August 2025 (UTC) | |||
Rocky Bushiri Kisonga (born 30 November 1999) is a professionalfootballer who plays as acentre-back forScottish Premiership sideHibernian and theDR Congo national team.
He has previously played forK.V. Oostende andNorwich City, spending almost the entirety of his spell at Norwich on loan at other clubs.
Bushiri was born in Belgium and played for theirunder-19 andunder-21 teams. He switched his international allegiance toDR Congo in March 2023, and made his full international debut for them later that year.
Bushiri joined the youth academy ofK.V. Oostende in 2012 after impressing in a provincial tournament representingWalloon Brabant.[2] He signed his first professional contract with Oostende in June 2017, for two years.[3] He made his professional debut in a 1–0Belgian First Division A loss toKV Mechelen on 9 December 2017, becoming the youngest-ever debutant for Oostende.[4]
On 3 July 2019, it was announced that Bushiri would joinNorwich City on a four-year deal, initially linking up with the U23 squad.[5] On 1 August 2019, Bushiri joinedLeague One clubBlackpool on a season-long loan deal.[6] Bushiri scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 win againstWolverhampton Wanderers U21s in anEFL Trophy tie on 5 November 2019.[7]
On 30 June 2020, Bushiri went out on loan again, this time joiningMechelen on a season-long deal.[8]
On 26 January 2021, Bushiri moved to Belgium sideKAS Eupen, on a loan deal until the end of the season.[9]
On 10 January 2022, Bushiri joinedScottish Premiership sideHibernian on loan for the remainder of the season, with an option to buy in the summer.[10] His number of appearances during the loan triggered that option, and he signed a three-year contract with Hibs in June 2022.[11]
After he played againstMorton, whilst he was supposed to be suspended for receiving two cautions in earlier ties, Morton were awarded a default 3–0 victory which led to Hibernian being knocked out of theScottish League Cup.[12] He played regularly during the first half of the2022–23 season, but was then unavailable for more than three months due to an ankle injury.[13]
Bushiri scored his first goal for the club on 26 November 2024, scoring a 97th-minute equaliser in a 3–3 draw withAberdeen.[14] That goal started a club-record run of 17 league games without defeat, with Bushiri featuring regularly as the team finished third in thePremiership.[15]
His contract with Hibernian expired at the end of the2024–25 season, but he signed a new three-year deal with the club in June 2025.[15]
Bushiri was born in Belgium and is of Congolese descent;[16] his grandfather,Albert Kisonga, was anambassador to Belgium.[13] Bushiri represented Belgium in youth internationals up to and including theunder-21 level, but changed his international allegiance in March 2023 so that he could play forDR Congo.[17] Bushiri was first selected by DR Congo in June 2023, for twoAfrica Cup of Nations qualifying matches.[18] He made his full international debut in September 2023, playing in afriendly againstSouth Africa.[19]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup[a] | League Cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| KV Oostende | 2017–18[21] | Belgian First Division A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| Eupen (loan) | 2018–19[21] | Belgian First Division A | 23 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 8[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 1 | |
| Norwich City | 2019–20[22] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2020–21[23] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22[24] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Blackpool (loan) | 2019–20[22] | League One | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 2[d] | 1 | 7 | 1 | |
| Sint-Truiden (loan) | 2019–20[22] | Belgian First Division A | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | |||
| Mechelen (loan) | 2020–21[23] | Belgian First Division A | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 6 | 0 | |||
| Eupen (loan) | 2020–21[21] | Belgian First Division A | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | 3 | 1 | |||
| Hibernian (loan) | 2021–22[24] | Scottish Premiership | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| Hibernian | 2022–23[25] | Scottish Premiership | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 20 | 0 | ||
| 2023–24[26] | Scottish Premiership | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5[e] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 2 | |
| 2024–25[27] | Scottish Premiership | 28 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 4 | |
| 2025–26[28] | Scottish Premiership | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6[f] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | |
| Total | 71 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 97 | 9 | ||
| Career total | 128 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 176 | 12 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| DR Congo | 2023 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 4 | 0 | |
