Papa Malick Ba (born 11 November 1980) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He is contracted with CS Sfaxien as director of football. Between 2006 and 2008 he made 11 appearances for the Senegal national team. Career 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. As he was offered the chance to play professionally, he took it and joined 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 for 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 in the St. Jakob-Park on 30 July 2005, coming on as substitute for the injured Murat Yakin at half time, as Basel won 2–1 against Zürich. He scored his first goal for his new club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 2 October. It was the last goal of the game as Basel won 5–1 against Thun. As Swiss champions, Basel entered the 2005–06 Champions League third qualifying round. However, they were drawn against German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen and they lost 4-2 on aggregate. Subsequently Basel dropped into the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, where against NK Široki Brijeg in the first round, they sealed a 6–0 aggregate win to qualify for the Group