Nabil Baha (born August 12, 1981 in Remiremont, France) is a Moroccan footballer who currently plays for Málaga CF in the Spanish first division, as a striker.

Both his parents come from Douar Guerzine, near Fes.

[edit] Club career

Baha made his professional debuts with France's Montpellier HSC, then went on to represent Associação Naval 1º de Maio (second level) and Sporting Clube de Braga in Portugal, moving to neighbours Spain in 2005, where he appeared for Racing de Ferrol in Spain's Segunda División. There, in spite of his eight league goals, the Galician side would be relegated.

After a brief return spell to France, with lowly US Créteil-Lusitanos, Baha returned to Spain and its second-tier in January 2007, netting nine league goals for SD Ponferradina, which would also drop down a level at the season's closure.

In 2007-08, he played for another side in the category, Málaga CF, and, benefitting from several injuries to habitual first-choice Salva, finished with 10 goals (squad's second-best) as the Andalusia side returned to the first level after two years.

In the early months of 2008, Baha was subject of a €2 million transfer to FC Steaua Bucureşti, however he rejected this as he eventually wanted to play in Spain's top-flight. He had a clause in his contract allowing him to talk to other clubs if the offer was of at least €3 million. In 2008-09, Baha scored his first goal in La Liga, in a 4-0 away routing of Recreativo de Huelva, on October 5, 2008. The following month, he also scored at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid, in a 3-4 final loss,^[1]and finished the first half of the season as the club's top scorer, at eight (for a total of nine, tied for best with midfielder Apoño).

[edit] International career

A full Moroccan international since 2003,^[2]Baha took part in the 2004 African Cup of Nations, where the national side finished second to hosts Tunisia, as he scored once, in a 4-0 semifinal rout of Mali.^[3][4]

Due to a dislocated shoulder suffered in the late months of October against Racing de Santander in a Spanish Cup match, he failed to win a place in the nation's final squad for the 2008 African Cup of Nations, which was held in Ghana.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Nabil Baha French league stats at lfp.fr (French)
• BDFutbol profile
• NationalFootballTeams data

v • d • e Morocco squad – 2004 Africa Cup of Nations Runners-up 1 Fouhami • 2 Regragui • 3 Roumani • 4 Ouaddou • 5 El Karkouri • 6 Naybet • 7 Zairi • 8 Kissi • 9 Baha • 10 Hdiouad • 11 Moha • 12 El Jarmouni • 13 Kharja • 14 Bidoudane • 15 Safri • 16 Mokhtari • 17 Chamakh • 18 Alla • 19 Alioui • 20 Hadji • 21 Chihab • 22 Lamyaghri • Coach: Zaki