Nigerian midfielder Alex Iwobi has equalled Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah for the second-highest number of Premier League appearances by any African player. The 30-year-old reached 328 games during Fulham’s narrow 1-0 win away at Coventry City on Saturday, leaving him only 25 short of the all-time African record held by former Ivory Coast defender Kolo Touré.
Touré remains the clear leader with 353 outings across Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool. Iwobi, already Nigeria’s most-capped Premier League player, now sits level with Salah and needs 26 more matches to claim the outright African crown.
The landmark came almost exactly 11 years after his Premier League debut. On 31 October 2015 he stepped off the Arsenal bench in a 3-0 victory at Swansea City. His first start followed the next March, when he scored in a 2-0 win at Everton. After moving to Everton in 2019 and then joining Fulham in September 2023, Iwobi overtook Shola Ameobi’s Nigerian record of 298 appearances and has continued to climb the African charts.
The Nigeria Football Federation quickly congratulated him. Acting general secretary Emmanuel Ikpeme said the federation celebrated the milestone and hoped to see Iwobi become the African with the most Premier League appearances in the near future.
Fulham’s winner against Coventry was scored by Oscar Bobb, giving the Cottagers back-to-back 1-0 league victories. The previous week Iwobi himself had netted the decisive goal against Hull City.
Behind Iwobi and Salah come Ghana’s Jordan Ayew and Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Zaha on 305 appearances each, with Ameobi sixth on 298. Among Nigerians, Nwankwo Kanu finished with 273, Yakubu Aiyegbeni 252 and John Mikel Obi 249. Joseph Yobo accumulated 228 games and once completed every single minute of a 38-match Premier League season for Everton in 2006-07.
Iwobi also owns Nigeria’s Premier League assists record after surpassing Kanu’s total of 29. Yakubu remains the country’s leading scorer with 95 goals, while Efan Ekoku holds a unique place in history as the first player to score four times in a single Premier League match, for Norwich against Everton in 1993.
With consistency and longevity still on his side, Iwobi is now within touching distance of a record that would cement his place among the great African contributors to English football’s top flight.