Noureddine Diwa

Diwa was born on 26 February 1937 in Tunis, Tunisia. His birth name was Noureddine Ben Yahmed.[2] He was nicknamed Diwa as a distortion of the Tunisian Arabic word doua which means "dilettante spirit".[3] The nickname was given to him by Stade Tunisien founder Hamadi Ben Salem.[4] He was also nicknamed the Tunisian Kopa,[1] and the French newspaper L'Équipe nicknamed him "Petit Kopa" (little Kopa), in reference to Real Madrid player Raymond Kopa.[5] Diwa died on 20 April 2020 at the age of 83. He was buried the next day at the Jellaz Cemetery in Tunis.[5]

As a junior, Diwa played for the Espérance junior team, and later the Stade Tunisien junior team.[6] He won the 1952 and 1953 junior league with Stade Tunisien.[7] Between 1955 and 1962, Diwa played for the Stade Tunisien senior team for seven seasons, making 144 appearances and scoring 96 goals.[8] He helped Stade Tunisien reach the Tunisian National Championship,[1] scoring four goals in the promotion playoffs.[3] He was part of the Stade Tunisien team that won the 1956–57 Tunisian National Championship,[9][10] and the National Championships in 1960–61 and 1961–62.[7] He also won four Tunisian Cups with Stade Tunisien,[9] in 1956, 1958, 1960, and 1962.[7] Diwa scored in all four Tunisia Cups victories.[11]

In 1957, he was interested in playing for French team Le Havre, but did not make the move.[8][3] Diwa played for French Division 2 team Limoges between 1962 and 1968,[2][8] making Diwa one of the first Tunisian players to play abroad.[1] In 1963 he scored two goals for Limoges in their Coupe de France quarter final against Stade de Reims, a match they lost 4–3 after extra time.[8]

In 1968, Diwa returned to Tunisia, to play for Espérance,[2][8] and he played there for two seasons.[12] During that time, he won the 1969–70 Tunisian National Championship,[7] and was part of the Espérance team that lost the 1969 Tunisian Cup final to Club Africain.[11]

Diwa made 23 appearances for Tunisia[2] between 1956 and 1969.[9] He also represented Tunisia at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.[13] It was Tunisia's first appearance in the football event at the Olympics.[6] He played in their group stage matches against Poland, Argentina and Denmark.[8]

After retiring as a player, Diwa was a coach at AS Djerba in 1972, Espérance in 1974, CS Chebba from 1978 to 1980, and Stade Tunisien in 1981.[9][11]