Iddrisu Baba Mohammed (born 22 January 1996) is a Ghanaian 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 lea ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for club

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

and the Ghana national team.

Club career

Born in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, Baba moved to Spain at an early age and joined

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

's youth setup in January 2014, from

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

. He made his senior debut for the former's reserves on 29 August 2015, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 7–1

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

home routing of Penya Ciutadella. Baba scored his first senior goal on 8 May 2016, netting the opener in a 2–1 home win against

CF Platges de Calvià Club de Fútbol Platges de Calvià, previously known as Club Deportivo Montuiri, is a football team based in Calvià, Balearic Islands. Founded in 1942, the team plays in , holding home games at the '' Poliesportiu Municipal de Magaluf'' with 3,50 ...

. On 23 June, after achieving promotion, he was bought outright by the ''Bermellones''. On 25 August 2017, Baba was loaned to

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, for one year. Upon returning, he was promoted to the main squad in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, and made his professional debut on 19 August 2018, replacing Carlos Castro in a 1–0 home win against

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

. On 3 July 2019, after contributing with 28 matches (play-offs included) as his side achieved promotion to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, Baba renewed his contract until 2022. He made his debut in the category on 17 August, starting in a 2–1 home win over

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

. Baba scored his first professional goal on 31 October 2021, netting the opener in a 1–1 away draw against

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

. On 10 August 2023, he moved to fellow top tier side

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan deal, with a buyout clause. On 4 July 2024, Almería announced the permanent signing of Baba on a three-year contract following their relegation from the top flight.

International career

On 13 November 2019, Baba was called up for the Ghana national team to

2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the 33rd edition of the international men's football champions ...

matches against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

. He made his full international debut in the following day, starting in a 2–0 win over the former. He was part of the Ghanaian team in the 2021 African Cup of Nations and sustained an injury in the match against

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Profile
at the RCD Mallorca website * 1996 births Living people Footballers from Accra Ghanaian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Ghana men's international footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Leganés B players RCD Mallorca B players Barakaldo CF footballers RCD Mallorca players UD Almería players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen {{Ghana-footy-bio-stub