Alex Iwobi Biography, Club Career, Net Worth and Honours

STAGE NAME: Alexander Chuka Iwobi

FULL NAME: Alex Iwobi

OCCUPATION: Footballer

DATE OF BIRTH: 3 May 1996

PLACE OF BIRTH: Lagos

POSITION: Midfielder

NATIONALITY: Nigeria

Iwobi started his career at Arsenal, where he played 149 games and scored 15 goals. He won the FA Cup in 2017 and scored in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final. He moved to Everton in August 2019 for a starting fee of £28 million.

Iwobi played for England until he was 18. In October 2015, he played his first full international game for Nigeria. He was on their teams at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the 2019 and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and the 2019 tournament, where they came in third.

EARLY LIFE

Iwobi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. When he was four years old, his family moved to England after a short stay in Turkey. He grew up in Newham, London. His maternal uncle, Jay-Jay Okocha, used to play professional football.

CLUB CAREER

Arsenal

Iwobi joined Arsenal in 2004 while he was still in elementary school. He almost was let go by the club when he was 14 and again when he was 16.

He played his first game with the first team as a replacement in a League Cup game against West Bromwich Albion on September 25, 2013. He agreed to stay with Arsenal for a long time in October 2015.

Iwobi played his first game for the club on October 27, 2015, when they lost 3–0 to Sheffield Wednesday in the Round of 16 of the League Cup.

Four days later, he played in his first Premier League game, a 3–0 win at the Liberty Stadium against Swansea City. He came on as a replacement for Mesut Ozil in stoppage time.

Iwobi played his first game in the Champions League when he came on as a replacement in the 85th minute of a 5–1 loss to Bayern Munich.

Iwobi played with the first team in the 2015–16 FA Cup third-round and fourth-round wins at home against Sunderland and Burnley.

Iwobi scored two goals in his first two Premier League starts, wins over Everton and Watford. His first start in the Champions League was in a 3–1 loss on the road to Barcelona.

Iwobi’s team number changed from 45 to 17 the next season, when Alexis Sánchez took number 7 from Tomáš Rosický, who was leaving.

He then played in Arsenal’s successful FA Cup season of 2016–17, which ended with a 2–1 win over Chelsea in the final.

His other big win was with Arsenal in the 2017 Community Shield, which they won by beating Chelsea on penalties.

They put out a tape in January 2018 that they said showed Iwobi at a party 36 hours before a game. When Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger said he was leaving the club in May 2018,

Iwobi called him a “inspiration” and said it was both sad and exciting.

He signed a new long-term deal with the club in August 2018 that is said to last until 2023.

It was said that Indian actress Esha Gupta, who is an Arsenal representative, was racist toward Iwobi in January 2019.

In May 2019, he scored the only goal for Arsenal in their 4–1 loss to Chelsea in the UEFA Europa League Final.

Everton

Iwobi signed a five-year deal with Everton on August 8, 2019.The BBC says Arsenal got a fee of £28 million at first, which could go up to £34 million with possible add-ons.

Iwobi’s first game for Arsenal was fifteen days after he signed. He came on as a replacement for Gylfi Sigurðsson in the last thirty minutes of a 2-0 loss at Aston Villa.

He got his first goal for Everton in a 4–2 win at Lincoln City on August 28 in the second round of the EFL Cup.

He got his first league goal on September 1 in a 3–2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. After the game, manager Marco Silva praised him along with another player.

After setting up eight goals, Iwobi was named Everton’s Players’ Player of the Season for 2022–23.

Fulham

Iwobi joined Fulham on September 2, 2023, but the fee wasn’t made public.

On September 16, Iwobi played his first game for Fulham. He came on as a replacement in the 62nd minute of a 1-0 win over Luton Town.

In the third round of the EFL Cup on September 27, they beat Norwich City 2–1. That was his first goal for the club.

Iwobi scored his first Premier League goal for Fulham in a 3–2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Craven Cottage on November 27. He scored his first two league goals in a 5–0 home win over Nottingham Forest on December 6.

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Iwobi was born in Nigeria and can play for either England or Nigeria. He started out as a young international for England and won the Victory Shield with them in 2011.

Iwobi played 11 games for England when he was younger, but he subsequently chose to play for Nigeria in 2015.

He played his first game for the Super Eagles on October 8, substituting Ahmed Musa in the 57th minute of a 2-0 loss to DR Congo in Visé, Belgium.

He was chosen by Nigeria to be on their 35-person potential Olympic team for 2016. He wasn’t on the 18-person final team.

Iwobi didn’t play for Nigeria in their August 2017 World Cup qualifiers because he was hurt. Iwobi made a goal in October 2017 that helped Nigeria beat Zambia 1-0 and earn a spot in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

He was one of 23 players that Nigeria chose for the tournament, and he played in all three games as the Super Eagles were eliminated in the group stage.

He said in April 2019 that he wants to win the Africa Cup of Nations like his uncle Jay-Jay Okocha. He was picked to play for Nigeria in the 2019 event.

During the game, he said he wouldn’t care that Nigeria was called the favourite. He said after the event that he was excited to get back to playing club football with Arsenal.

The Nigeria team for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations was pushed back to 2022, and Iwobi was named to it. One minute after coming on as a substitute in Nigeria’s 0–1 loss to Tunisia in the knockout game, he was given a red card.

HONOURS

Arsenal

FA Cup: 2016–17
FA Community Shield: 2015, 2017
EFL Cup runner-up: 2017–18
UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2018–19

England U16

Victory Shield: 2011

Nigeria

Africa Cup of Nations: third place 2019

Individual

CAF Youth Player of the Year: 2016
CAF Team of the Year: 2016
Everton Players’ Player of the Year: 2023

NET WORTH

Many websites have talked about how much Alex Iwobi is worth and come up with an amazing €8.4 million, which is about ₦3.8 billion.

An agreement with Everton for five years sets the terms of his relationship and pays him about €4 million a year.

Since he joined Everton in 2019, Iwobi’s market value has been steadily going up. At the moment, Transfermarkt thinks the midfielder is worth an amazing €25.50 million, which is about ₦11.51 billion in his own currency.

Notably, Iwobi earned a spot on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in July 2019, which shows how influential and well-known he is becoming in the sports world.