Alexander Chuka Iwobi ( ih-WOH-bee; born 3 May 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League 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 3–0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the Round of 16 of the League Cup. He made his Premier League debut four days later in a 3–0 win against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, as a stoppage time substitute for Mesut Özil. Iwobi made his Champions League debut as an 85th-minute substitute in a 5–1 defeat against Bayern Munich. Iwobi started in the first team for the 2015–16 FA Cup 3rd and 4th round home wins against Sunderland and Burnley respectively.
After getting a first Champions League start in a 3–1 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 Tomáš Rosický. He went on to feature throughout Arsenal's victorious FA Cup campaign of 2016–17, winning 2–1 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 4–1 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 £28 million, rising to £34 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 2–0 loss at Aston Villa. On 28 August in the second round of the EFL Cup, he scored his first Everton goal in a 4–2 win at Lincoln City. He scored his first league goal on 1 September in a 3–2 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 2022–23 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 1–0 win over Luton Town. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win at Norwich City in the third round of the EFL Cup on 27 September.