Ad-Diba was born in Alexandria and joined the Al Ittihad Alexandria Club as a centre forward in 1944. In 1948 he helped the team win the Egypt Cup 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. He also helped Egypt win the first edition of both football at the Pan Arab Games in 1953 and the Africa Cup of Nations in 1957. 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.