Arribi started his playing career with Algerian side USM Sétif.
Two years later, he signed for French Ligue 1 side FC Sète 34.
Three years later, he was appointed manager of Tunisian side CS Sfaxien.
After managing the Algeria national football team in 1985, he returned as manager of Algerian side ES Sétif for the fifth and final time, helping the club win the league title and the 1988 African Cup of Champions Clubs.
[1] Decades after his death in 1989, Algerian newspaper El Khabar wrote in 2016 that he was "considered one of the most prominent sports figures of the century that Algeria has produced"[2] and Algerian newspaper La Nouvelle République wrote in 2022 that he was "one of the legendary figures of Algerian football and the Sétif region".