Tunisia has participated three times in the FIFA Arab Cup, the biggest men's football event in the Arab world. The first participation was during the inaugural edition in 1963, held in Lebanon. The tournament featured a league format with five teams. Tunisia won the title after winning all four of its matches against Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon. Mongi Haddad finished the tournament as the top scorer. After that, Tunisia participated in 1988 and did not win a single match and failed in the group stage after three draws and a loss. In 2021, the Tunisia participated in the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup, the first edition under the auspices of FIFA with the participation of sixteen teams in the final tournament. The team reached the final after defeating Mauritania, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Egypt, but lost to Algeria and won the silver medal. Seifeddine Jaziri finished the tournament as the top scorer.
In early 1963, the Tunisian Football Federation appointed French coach André Gérard to lead the team in the inaugural edition of the Arab Cup, held in Beirut, Lebanon. The team won the title by winning all of its matches, defeating Syria 1–0, Jordan 4–0, Kuwait 5–1, and Lebanon 1–0.[18] Tunisia won its first title since independence, and Mongi Haddad finished the tournament as the top scorer with four goals.
After a nine-year hiatus, the FIFA hosted the Arab Cup in Qatar. Tunisia qualified directly for the finals without entering the qualifying phase, benefiting from the first Arab ranking in the FIFA world rankings, making it the country's seventh appearance in a FIFA-organized tournament. They opened the tournament with a 5–1 victory over Mauritania; Seifeddine Jaziri and Firas Ben Larbi scored twice, while Youssef Msakni scored the fifth goal thanks to an assist from Yassine Chikhaoui.[19] However, Tunisia suffered a 0–2 defeat to Syria,[20] but qualified for the quarterfinals by beating the United Arab Emirates 1–0 with a goal from Jaziri.[21] In the quarterfinals, the team defeated Oman 2–1 thanks to goals from Jaziri and Msakni.[22] In the semifinals, Tunisia clashed with rivals Egypt, but managed to score a goal in the 95th minute after a free kick from Naïm Sliti, which was deflected into the net by Egypt's Amr El Solia, and secured qualification by ending the match with a 1–0 score.[23] This victory allowed Tunisia to reach its first FIFA final in the country's history.[24] In the final match, the team faced Algeria, which they defeated 0–2 in extra time.[25][26] Jaziri finished as the tournament's top scorer with four goals and won the FIFA Golden Boot award.[27] Despite losing the title, the team's performance restored confidence among the fans,[28] who attended the tournament in the tens of thousands, especially after the defeat against Syria and in the playoffs. In this context, they were congratulated by FIFA and named the best fans of the tournament.[29]
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