Tunisia will have more than just the African Nations Cup title at stake when they face Morocco in Saturday's final.
Also being fought for is the country's pride, battered and bruised by decades of heroic failure on the international sporting front while Morocco, by comparison, have thrived.
The past makes such dismal reading for the long-suffering Tunisian sports fan, that they would prefer not to be reminded of the time when one of their own countrymen found himself in the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur was one of the few people not to spot that Diego Maradona had employed his infamous 'Hand of God' to score against England.
It was Bennaceur's first and last match as a World Cup referee.
On the field at the World Cup, Tunisia has qualified three times but have won just one game - they beat Mexico 3-1 and even held Germany 0-0 on their debut in 1978 but still didn't make it to the second round.
By contrast, Morocco played in the 1986 World Cup, topped a group which included England and Portugal and were only undone in the second round by a 1-0 defeat to Germany.
Annoyingly for Tunisia, the Moroccans can also boast an African Nations Cup title which they secured back in 1976.
In track and field, Tunisia have nurtured champions in low-profile tournaments such as the Mediterranean Games while Morocco can boast a legion of Olympic and world champion stars such as Said Aouita, Nawal El Moutawakil, Khalid Skah, Hicham El Guerrouj, Nezha Bidouane and Brahim Boulami.
In tennis, Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui and Hicham Arazi have world rankings of 24 and 38 respectively and combined career earnings of almost eight million dollars.
Tunisia's best ranked male tennis player is Oualid Jallali who is ranked in the twilight zone at 648 and has earned the princely sum of 118 dollars since the turn of the year.
No matter, on the women's tour is 26-year-old Tunis native Selima Sfar who stands proudly at 147 and who once reached the second round at Wimbledon.
Morocco can't beat that - their best female player is Bahia Mouhtassine who has edged up to the dizzy heights of 236.