The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has congratulated Alexander Iwobi after the Fulham midfielder became the joint-second most-capped African player in Premier League history.
Iwobi made his 328th appearance in the competition during Fulham’s 1-0 victory over Coventry City on Saturday, moving level with Egypt and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
The 30-year-old is now 25 appearances behind former Ivory Coast international Kolo Toure, who holds the record for the most Premier League appearances by an African player with 353.
Iwobi’s latest outing came after he completed 73 minutes at Coventry City. He recorded 60 touches, completed 51 passes and posted a passing accuracy of 86.3%.
The NFF’s acting general secretary, Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme, MON, praised Iwobi’s achievement and said he hoped the midfielder would soon surpass Toure’s total.
“The NFF celebrates Alex Iwobi for this new achievement, and we wish him even greater glory. We will be very happy to see him become the African with the most appearances in the Premier League in the near future,” Ikpeme said.
Toure remains the leading African appearance-maker in the history of the Premier League, having represented several English clubs during his career.
Iwobi also reached a landmark for Nigeria this summer when he won his 100th international cap in a friendly against Portugal at the Estadio Dr. Magalhaes Pessoa in Leiria.
He has won one silver medal and two bronze medals with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations and continues to rank among the continent’s most experienced players in English football.