Papa Babacar "Baba" Diawara (born 5 January 1988) is a Senegalese 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 striker.

Club career

Marítimo

Born in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

, Diawara started his career with

Senegal Premier League Senegal Premier League is the top division of the Senegal Football Association, it was founded in 1966. The league also hosts a domestic cup, the Coupe de la Ligue. Football clubs from the Senegal Premier League also compete for the Senegal FA Cup ...

club

ASC Jeanne d'Arc Association Sportive et Culturelle Jeanne d'Arc or ASC Jeanne d'Arc for short is a Senegalese football club based in Dakar. It was founded in 1923 and one of the oldest in the country. They play at the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor. The club ...

, moving to Europe aged just 19 to sign for

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

in Portugal due to his friendship with former footballer

Paul Tisdale Paul Robert Tisdale (born 14 January 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Stevenage. As a player, Tisdale represented Southampton, Bristol City, FinnPa, Panionios and Yeov ...

. Having risen to prominence in their reserves, he made his debut for the main squad late into the 2007–08 season, appearing in the second half of a 1–1

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

home draw against C.F. Estrela da Amadora. Promoted to the first team the following summer, Diawara scored ten goals in the 2008–09 campaign from 25 league games. His form attracted the attention of several clubs, including

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP ('' ...

from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and Scotland's Heart of Midlothian, with the latter however being put off by Marítimo's £2.5 million (€2.75 million) valuation of the player. Diawara bettered his individual totals to 11 goals in

2010–11 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 ...

, with Marítimo finishing in ninth position.

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

came close to signing him in August 2011, but the deal collapsed on the last day of the

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

due to visa issues. Diawara netted ten goals in only 15 matches in the first half of the 2011–12 season, including the last-minute winner at Sporting in a 3–2 win.

Sevilla

Diawara signed with

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

on 17 January 2012, penning a -year contract. He made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

debut on the 29th, coming on as a substitute for

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in Ja ...

late into the first half of a 2–1 loss at

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

. His first goal came on 3 March, starting the first time due to

Álvaro Negredo Álvaro Negredo Sánchez (; born 20 August 1985) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays for Cádiz CF, Cádiz as a Striker (association football), striker. Nicknamed ''La fiera de Vallecas'' (The beast of Vallecas ...

's injury and equalising in a 1–1 draw against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

at the

Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium ( es, Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán; ) is a football stadium in Seville, Spain. It is the home stadium of Sevilla Fútbol Club, and is named after the club's former president, Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán (190 ...

. On 17 April 2012, Diawara scored the opening goal in the new

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, during a friendly with local

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

, adding another in a 2–0 win. He netted twice on 5 May as Sevilla won 5–2 in their final home match of the season, against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

. In the following campaign he did not find the net in the league, featuring mainly from the bench. In July 2013, Diawara was one of three Sevilla players deemed surplus to requirements by coach

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. After a career spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coa ...

. On 19 August, he was loaned to fellow Spaniards

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

for the duration of 2013–14.

Adelaide United

In February 2017, after one and a half seasons with former club Marítimo, Diawara joined

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to f ...

in the Australian

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. He scored three goals in only seven matches in his first season (five in all competitions), the first coming on 19 March in the 2–1 home defeat of

Brisbane Roar FC Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record ...

. Diawara agreed to a new two-year deal on 11 May 2017.

Mohun Bagan

In December 2019, Diawara signed a one-year contract with India's

Mohun Bagan AC Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

. He scored his first

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

goal for his new team the following 19 January, heading home from a

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

in the 65th minute to help the hosts defeat

East Bengal F.C. East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top fl ...

2–1.

Punjab

Diawara joined

Punjab FC RoundGlass Punjab FC is an Indian professional football club from Mohali in Punjab that competes in the Punjab State Super Football League and I-League. Founded as ''Minerva Academy FC'', in 2005, the club name was rebranded to ''Minerva Punj ...

of the same country and league on 1 February 2021. On his debut eight days later, he scored twice in a 2–1 away victory over

Indian Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) was an Indian developmental football club that competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, with a main goal of nurturing young Indian football talen ...

Career statistics

Honours

Mohun Bagan *

: 2019–20

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diawara, Baba 1988 births Living people Senegalese men's footballers Footballers from Dakar Men's association football forwards ASC Jeanne d'Arc players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players C.S. Marítimo players La Liga players Sevilla FC players Levante UD footballers Getafe CF footballers A-League Men players Adelaide United FC players Marquee players (A-League Men) I-League players Mohun Bagan SG players Senegalese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's footballers in India Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in India