When Arif Aiman was just seven years old, one man saw something the rest of Malaysian football missed.
“I told his father, Hanapi, that this boy was different. His touch, vision and the way he attacked goal — he was a natural talent,” recalled former Malaysia international Datuk Jamal Nasir, as quoted from The New Straits Times.
Arif’s first steps in the game came through Jamal’s grassroots program, the First Touch Academy, after his father enrolled him shortly after the family moved to Pahang. Hanapi had just opened a gold shop there, with Jamal helping out the family by securing the shop’s location.
“He came from humble beginnings,” Jamal said. “Every era has its heroes — and the late Datuk Mokhtar Dahari will always be incomparable. But Arif’s story is unique. He started from the bottom, and I don’t want to brag, but he came through my academy.”
For all his early promise, Arif’s journey almost ended before it began. The Pahang-born winger was rejected by the very system designed to nurture Malaysia’s future stars — the prestigious Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) — for being too small.
That rejection could have crushed him. But Jamal never doubted what he had seen years before.
“He was overlooked because of his size. Others didn’t see what I saw,” Jamal said.
Instead of giving up, Arif used that setback as fuel. At 16, he left the AMD program and joined Johor Darul Ta’zim, a decision that would change the trajectory of his career.
“That was the best move,” Jamal said. “JDT gave him the platform to grow, and he proved himself.”
In Johor, Arif’s transformation was complete. The once-scrawny teenager became a whirlwind down the flanks — developing searing pace, fearless dribbling, and a tactical intelligence that has made him Malaysia’s most dangerous attacking weapon.
Today, at 23, Arif Aiman is unrecognizable from the boy who was once told he was too small for the sport. He has lifted multiple domestic titles with JDT, carried Malaysia’s hopes on the Asian Cup stage, and made history as the first Malaysian ever shortlisted for the AFC Player of the Year award.
“Even if he doesn’t win, being in Asia’s top three is historic,” Jamal said proudly. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime Malaysian talent. After Arif, I don’t see anyone like him. It shows our youth development isn’t producing enough. We must rethink AMD and NFDP.”
Arif will head to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 16 for the AFC Awards, where he will stand alongside two of Asia’s biggest names in football Qatar’s Akram Afif and Saudi Arabia’s Salem Al Dawsari in the race for the continent’s most prestigious individual prize.
No matter the outcome, the boy who was once deemed too small has already proven that he belongs among Asia’s elite.