Papa Malick Ba

Early years

Ba was born in Pikine, Senegal. He played his children's football with local club AS Pikine and between 1995 and 1997 his youth football with Juventus Dakar. When he was offered the chance to play professionally, he took it and joined the Tunisian club Club Sportif Sfaxien in 1997. He did not play any games until he was 19 and in his third season at the club. He started coming off the bench, impressing the fans after doing so. By his fourth season at the club, he was a first-team regular and was the team's main holding midfield player. He then collected some valuable titles with the Tunisians, twice the Arab Club Champions Cup in 2000 and 2004, the Tunisian League Cup in 2003, the Tunisian Cup in 2004 and the Tunisian championship in 2005.

Basel

It was reported that in 2004 numerous Swiss clubs had chased his signature, but Sfaxien turned down all offers initially. Eventually it was FC Basel and AJ Auxerre who were at loggerheads and there was a real tug of war for the services of the midfielder, who finally chose to accept a three-year contract with the reigning Swiss champions. He joined Basel's first team for their 2005–06 season under head coach Christian Gross, who started his seventh season with the club in that position. After playing in one test game, Ba played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game at the St. Jakob-Park on 30 July 2005, coming on as the substitute for the injured Murat Yakin at half time, as Basel won…

Sfaxien

Arab Champions League: 2000, 2004 Tunisian Cup: 2004 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2005 Basel

Swiss Super League: 2007–08 Swiss Cup: 2006–07, 2007–08 Uhren Cup: 2006