Alex Iwobi will be given an opportunity against Portugal on Wednesday as he is now one step away from becoming the fourth Nigerian to play a hundred games for the Super Eagles.
The Fulham midfielder will play against Cristiano Ronaldo and the rest of the Portuguese squad in Leiria and will be the fourth Nigerian to do so alongside Joseph Yobo, Vincent Enyeama and Ahmed Musa. He will be coming into his eleventh year as an international without once having the opportunity to win a medal, yet he insists he does not regret picking Nigeria over the rest.
Even though he played for England at the youth level before deciding on a country in his heart, Iwobi said:
“I’m proud to be where I am today, proud to wear the green and white. I don’t regret picking Nigeria”.
Even though winning a trophy in an AFCON tourney or being part of another World Cup team “would have been nice,” the 30-year-old said he was thankful to Nigeria for what they have given him since making his debut in 2015. He has appeared in various AFCON tournaments and won silver in the 2023 edition and Bronze in both the 2019 and 2025 editions and also played in the 2018 World Cup tournament.
For him, the highlight was scoring the winning goal against Zambia to ensure World Cup qualification in 2018, though he admits his parents were watching as he was made a part of Nigerian history.
Iwobi joins a list of Nigerian legends, with Joseph Yobo being the first to make it to the hundred-game milestone for Nigeria back in 2014, with Vincent Enyeama following him up a year later and with Ahmed Musa calling it quits having played over 111 times for his nation.
The career of Iwobi, however, does not seem close to its end, as he joked he will not retire for many years to come and could even go on to break the record set by Ahmed Musa.
