By Amaechi Agbo
The Nigeria Football Federation has celebrated Super Eagles’ midfield ace Alexander Iwobi on his new milestone of becoming the joint-second most-capped African football player in the English Premiership, alongside Egyptian icon Mohamed Salah.
Iwobi, who celebrated his 100th cap for Nigeria during this summer’s friendly match with Portugal at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria, has now featured in 328 matches in the English Premier League.
Acting General Secretary of the NFF, Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme MON, congratulated Iwobi on his latest accomplishment. “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.”
The 30-year-old, who has won silver and two bronze medals with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, achieved the latest milestone when he featured for his English Premiership club Fulham in their 1-0 win over Coventry City on Saturday. The game was his 328th appearance in the EPL, taking him joint-second with Salah, and 25 games more to match the all-time record holder, Ivorian Kolo Toure.
Ivorian legend Toure played a total of 353 matches in the EPL – widely regarded as the biggest and most glamorous football league in the world.
In the match with Coventry, the Nigerian superstar had 60 touches on the ball in his 73-minute appearance, during which he made 51 passes, and accomplished 86.3% passing accuracy.
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