Tarak Dhiab

طارق ذياب

Tunis

Tunisian former footballer and politician (born 1954 in Tunis), a playmaker named African Footballer of the Year in 1977 who played at the 1978 World Cup, where Tunisia became the first African team to win a World Cup match; he later served as Minister of Youth and Sports from 2011 to 2014.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
athlete · Politician
Region
Maghreb
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review

Life in time

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The Colonial Era · The Contemporary Era · The Modern Era Contemporaries: A. K. Fazlul Huq · Abbas-Ali Amid Zanjani · Abbas Kiarostami · Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad · Abd al-Aziz al-Ghumari

In space

Tunis

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Place in the story

    Unknown (unknown)

    Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

    Summary

    Tarak Dhiab is a Tunisian former footballer and politician, born in Tunis in 1954 — the English and Arabic articles give 15 January, the French article and Wikidata 15 July, and the date is recorded as debated. A playmaker for Espérance de Tunis, he was named African Footballer of the Year in 1977 and later served as Tunisia's Minister of Youth and Sports. 1 2 3 4

    Career

    Dhiab learned football at the school founded in Tunis by Abdel Rahman Ben Ezzedine in 1966, and the Arabic article records his byname, "Emperor of football". He played for Espérance de Tunis from 1972 and for Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahli, and in 1977 he was chosen African Footballer of the Year. At the 1978 World Cup in Argentina he was part of the Tunisia team that beat Mexico to become the first African side to win a World Cup match; he also played at the 1988 Olympics. The Tunisian federation credits him with 107 caps, a figure FIFA has not ratified, and he was chosen as the Tunisian footballer of the twentieth century. 1 2

    After the 2011 revolution he entered government as an independent, serving as Minister of Youth and Sports under prime ministers Hamadi Jebali and Ali Larayedh from 24 December 2011 to 29 January 2014, and later worked as a television pundit. 1

    On the record

    None of the three articles says anything about Dhiab's religion: there is no religion field in any infobox, no statement in any text, and Wikidata carries no religion value for him. The record is complete absence. 1 2 3 4

    Connections

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    Born in
    Tunis

    People and things also explored

    al-Zaytuna Mosque· Khayr al-Din takes Tunis (1534)· Charles V's conquest of Tunis (1535)· Louis IX's siege of Tunis (the Eighth Crusade)· Abu Zakariya al-Hafsi's break with the Almohads· Abu al-Hasan al-Marini's entry into Ifriqiya· The Recovery of Tunis from the Spanish· Abdelaziz Thâalbi

    Sources

    1. Tarak Dhiab — English Wikipedia
    2. Tarak Dhiab — Arabic Wikipedia
    3. Tarak Dhiab — French Wikipedia
    4. Tarak Dhiab — Wikidata Q958968
    Cite this page

    islam.museum contributors. “Tarak Dhiab”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/tarak-dhiab/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.

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    Related

    al-Zaytuna Mosque

    Draft card for the Zaytuna Mosque of Tunis, the Umayyad-Aghlabid congregational mosque that became the seat of Maliki learning in Ifriqiya; al-Muqaddasi describes it among the city's landmarks, the page not yet checked.