Mohamed Diab Al-Attar, known as Ad-Diba, ( ar, محمد دياب العطار‎; 17 November 1927 – 30 December 2016), was a

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 ...

who played for the

Al Ittihad Alexandria Club Al Ittihad Alexandria Club ( ar, نادي الإتحاد السكندري), simply known as Al Ittihad, is an Egyptian sports club based in Alexandria, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team, which currently plays i ...

and the Egypt national football team. He later served as an international football referee. In 2007, he was named one of the 200 greatest African footballers.

Biography

Ad-Diba was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

and joined the

as a centre forward in 1944. In 1948 he helped the team win the

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as Egyptian FA Cup, formerly King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. List of finals The following table provides a summary of seasons: Notes: * The Winner and Runner-up of 1960–61 Eg ...

and was the top scorer in the first Egyptian Premier League tournament (alongside El-Sayed El-Dhizui). He remained with the team until 1958, when they were relegated to the Egyptian Second Division, and retired to take up refereeing. Internationally, he was a member of the Egypt national football team and competed at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games in 1948 and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

. He also helped Egypt win the first edition of both football at the

Pan Arab Games The Arab Games ( ar, الألعاب العربية), also called the Pan Arab Games, are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab world. They are organized by the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees. The first Gam ...

in 1953 and the Africa Cup of Nations in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

. In the latter case, he was the tournament's top scorer with five goals, four of which came in Egypt's 4–0 victory over Ethiopia in the final. As a referee, Ad-Diab presided over the final of the

1968 African Cup of Nations The 1968 African Cup of Nations was the sixth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the soccer championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Ethiopia. The field expanded to eight teams, split into two groups of four; the top two teams in each gr ...

and also refereed during the

1972 Gulf Cup of Nations The 2nd Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, دورة كأس الخليج العربي الثانية) was the second edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup. The tournament was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and was won by defending champions Kuwait for the second time ...

and the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

. By career he was a water manager and a journalist. In 2007, he was included in an initial list by the Confederation of African Football of the top 200 African footballers of all time. In September 2016 it was reported that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and in critical condition in an Alexandria hospital. He died on 30 December 2016 at the age of 89.

References

{{Navboxes , title = Awards , bg = gold , fg = navy , list = {{Egyptian Premier League top scorers {{Africa Cup of Nations top scorers {{Africa Cup of Nations Player of the Tournament 1927 births 2016 deaths Egyptian footballers Egypt international footballers Olympic footballers of Egypt Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics 1957 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations-winning players Egyptian football referees Sportspeople from Alexandria Association football forwards