Alexander Chuka Iwobi ( ; born 3 May 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Fulham and the Nigeria national team.
Iwobi began his career at Arsenal, with whom he won the FA Cup in 2017 and finished as runner-up for the EFL Cup in 2018 and UEFA Europa League in 2019. In 2019, Iwobi transferred to Everton, and in 2023 he joined Fulham.
Iwobi represented England up to under-18 level. He made his senior international debut for Nigeria in October 2015, and was part of their squads at the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 (finishing third), 2021, 2023 (being runner-up) and 2025 (finishing third).
Iwobi was born in Lagos before moving to England at the age of four, following a brief stay in Turkey, and grew up in Newham, London. His maternal uncle is former professional footballer Jay-Jay Okocha. His father, Chuba Iwobi, was also a footballer.
Iwobi joined Arsenal while still at primary school, in 2004, and was nearly released by the club at the age of 14 and again at the age of 16.
He was first involved in a first-team match as an unused substitute in a League Cup match against West Bromwich Albion on 25 September 2013. He signed a long-term contract with Arsenal in October 2015.
On 27 October 2015, Iwobi made his first-team debut for the club, starting in a 3âÂÂ0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the Round of 16 of the League Cup. He made his Premier League debut four days later in a 3âÂÂ0 win against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, as a stoppage time substitute for Mesut ÃÂzil. Iwobi made his Champions League debut as an 85th-minute substitute in a 5âÂÂ1 defeat against Bayern Munich. Iwobi started in the first team for the 2015âÂÂ16 FA Cup 3rd and 4th round home wins against Sunderland and Burnley respectively.
After getting a first Champions League start in a 3âÂÂ1 away defeat to Barcelona, Iwobi went on to score two goals in his first two Premier League starts in wins against Everton, and Watford, respectively.
In the following season, Iwobi changed his squad number from 45 to 17, after Alexis Sánchez took number 7 from the departing TomÃ¡à ¡ Rosický. He went on to feature throughout Arsenal's victorious FA Cup campaign of 2016âÂÂ17, winning 2âÂÂ1 against Chelsea in the final. He achieved further success with Arsenal in the 2017 Community Shield, in which Arsenal beat Chelsea on penalties.
In January 2018, a video was released that allegedly showed Iwobi at a late-night party 36 hours before a match. In May 2018, after Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger announced he would be leaving the club, Iwobi described him as an "inspiration" and stated it was sad but exciting.
In August 2018, he signed a new long-term contract with the club, reportedly until 2023.
In January 2019, Iwobi was the subject of alleged racism from Indian actress Esha Gupta, an Arsenal ambassador. Gupta chose to share a screengrab of a WhatsApp conversation in which a friend mocked Iwobi as a "gorilla" and "Neanderthal" who "evolution had stopped for". Gupta later apologised.
In May 2019, Iwobi scored Arsenal's only goal in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final, in a 4âÂÂ1 defeat to Chelsea.
On 8 August 2019, Iwobi signed a five-year contract with Everton. According to the BBC, Arsenal received a fee of an initial ã28 million, rising to ã34 million with potential add-ons.
Fifteen days after signing, Iwobi made his debut as a substitute for the final half-hour in place of Gylfi Sigurðsson in a 2âÂÂ0 loss at Aston Villa. On 28 August in the second round of the EFL Cup, he scored his first Everton goal in a 4âÂÂ2 win at Lincoln City. He scored his first league goal on 1 September in a 3âÂÂ2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, and was one of two players singled out for praise by manager Marco Silva afterwards.
Iwobi was named Everton's Players' Player of the Season for 2022âÂÂ23 after providing a club-high eight assists.
Iwobi signed for Fulham on 2 September 2023 for an undisclosed fee.
On 16 September, Iwobi made his debut for Fulham as a 62nd minute substitute in a 1âÂÂ0 win over Luton Town. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2âÂÂ1 win at Norwich City in the third round of the EFL Cup on 27 September.
On 27 November, Iwobi scored his first Premier League goal for Fulham in a 3âÂÂ2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Craven Cottage. On 6 December, he scored the first league brace of his career in a 5âÂÂ0 win at home to Nottingham Forest.
On 6 April 2024, in a game against Newcastle United, Iwobi became the Nigerian footballer with most minutes played in the history of the Premier League, surpassing the previous record held by Mikel John Obi.
In January 2025, he spoke positively about the "brotherhood" of Fulham's squad.
Eligible to represent England or his birth country Nigeria, Iwobi started as a youth international for England, with whom he won the 2011 Victory Shield. Iwobi earned 11 caps for England at underage level, but went on to declare for Nigeria in 2015. He made his senior debut for the Super Eagles on 8 October, 2015 replacing Ahmed Musa in the 57th minute of a 2âÂÂ0 friendly defeat to DR Congo in Visé, Belgium, before he had made a competitive appearance for his club.
He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He was not a part of the 18-man final squad.
In August 2017 Iwobi pulled out of Nigeria's squad for that month's World Cup qualifiers due to injury. In October 2017, Iwobi scored for Nigeria in a 1âÂÂ0 win over Zambia to secure the Super Eagles a spot in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He was named in Nigeria's 23-man squad for the competition and featured in all three games as the Super Eagles were knocked out in the group stage.
He was included in Nigeria's squad for the 2019 AFCON tournament. At the tournament in Egypt, Iwobi played in six of Nigeria's seven matches and scored one goalâÂÂa decisive 77th-minute winner in the round of 16 against defending champions Cameroon (3âÂÂ2)âÂÂas the Super Eagles claimed bronze, their best finish since 2013. After the tournament he said he was looking forward to returning to club football with Arsenal.
Iwobi was named in the Nigeria squad for the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in 2022. He was given a red card five minutes after coming on as a substitute in the knockout stage match against Tunisia, a match Nigeria lost 0âÂÂ1. At the 2023 African Cup of Nations, Iwobi was also in the Nigerian squad and played all seven games as Nigeria emerged runner-up, losing the final game to hosts, Ivory Coast.
Iwobi was included in the Nigerian team for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Morocco, earning a bronze medal.
In December 2024, Iwobi opened a temporary shop in east London which gave out free food for local residents for Christmas.
In 2024, Iwobi launched a music career under the stage name "17," a reference to his shirt number at Fulham. His debut single, titled "Don't Shoot," was released in June 2024 and featured contributions from former Arsenal teammate Chuba Akpom, performing as Skoli, and Medy Elito, also known as Don-EE. The track received attention for its reflective lyrics and accumulated close to 60,000 streams on Spotify.
In October 2024, Iwobi followed up with his second single, "What's Luv?," featuring artists SPKS and MBrown. The song contains themes exploring modern relationships.
Arsenal
England U16
Nigeria
Individual
Orders