Najib Tarif


Mohamad Najib bin Haji Tarif is a Bruneian footballer who plays for DPMM FC as a midfielder or left-sided full-back.

Club career

Starting out with the likes of NBT FC and AM Gunners of the Brunei Premier League, Najib's performances at the 2012 Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy as team captain prompted a move from MS PDB to Brunei's only professional club, DPMM.
After appearing only seven times in the 2015 season, his club head coach Steve Kean advised him to switch to the left-back position for him to gain playing time. A season-ending injury to first-choice Sairol Sahari meant that he would be relied on much more heavily in 2016.
Najib became the starting left-back for DPMM's 2017 campaign which ended in a disappointing 8th place, leading to the dismissal of coach Steve Kean. He was back on the sidelines with the arrival of Suhaimi Anak Sulau in the following season.
Najib regained his place at the start of the 2019 campaign under Adrian Pennock. He was rotated with Abdul Mu'iz Sisa for the position on the left of Pennock's 3-5-2 formation, becoming the starter towards the second half of the season. He became Singapore Premier League champion with DPMM by September of that year.

International career

Najib has played for Brunei Under-21 since 2005, and is the only player to have played in 4 Hassanal Bolkiah tournaments, winning the trophy in 2012. He regards his injury-time free-kick against Cambodia in that year's opening match as the best goal he has ever scored.
Najib scored in Brunei Under-23's first match against Timor-Leste at the 2011 SEA Games football tournament, but the team lost 1–2. He then played in all five matches as Brunei finished fifth in their group.
Najib's full international debut for the Wasps came in the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification held in the Philippines where he played in all three games. He was also ever-present for Brunei's AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying campaigns in 2012 and 2014. For the 2016 edition he was deployed at left-back, but did not finish the game due to injury which would keep him out of the rest of the games.
Najib was in the list for the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup but initially did not travel with the rest of the squad. Nevertheless, he recovered and made the starting lineup for the opening match, and kept his place at left-back for the whole tournament as Brunei finished in fourth place.
Najib linked up with the Brunei national team for the two-legged 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying matches against Timor-Leste in early September 2018. He started the first leg at left-back in a 3–1 loss on 1 September in Kuala Lumpur. He kept his place in a more advanced role on the return leg at Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium a week later and scored the only goal of the game. His winning goal gave Brunei their first ever home win for an international game, but the scoreline was not enough to qualify for the Suzuki Cup competition proper.
In June 2019, Najib was due to link up with the national team for the 2022 World Cup qualification matches against Mongolia, but pulled himself out of contention.

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 September 2018Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei1–01–02018 AFF Championship qualification

Honours

Team

;DPMM FC
Najib has nine siblings, one of which is Na'im Tarif who plays for MS PPDB.