The Nigeria Football Federation has congratulated Alex Iwobi after the Fulham midfielder moved level with Mohamed Salah as the joint-second most-capped African player in English Premier League history.

Iwobi reached 328 Premier League appearances when he played in Fulham’s 1-0 victory over Coventry City on Saturday. The result took him level with Egypt icon Salah and left him 25 matches short of the competition’s all-time African appearance record, held by former Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure.

Toure made 353 appearances in the English Premier League, widely regarded as the biggest and most glamorous football league in the world.

Acting NFF General Secretary Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme MON praised Iwobi for the latest achievement and expressed the federation’s hope that he would soon become the leading African player for Premier League appearances.

“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,” Ikpeme said.

The 30-year-old has represented Nigeria on 100 occasions, reaching his century of international caps during the Super Eagles’ friendly against Portugal this summer at the Estadio Dr. Magalhaes Pessoa in Leiria.

Iwobi has also won one silver medal and two bronze medals with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Against Coventry, he spent 73 minutes on the pitch, recording 60 touches and completing 51 passes. His passing accuracy was 86.3%.

The latest appearance continues Iwobi’s rise among the most experienced African players in Premier League history, with only Salah and Toure ahead of him or level with him in the appearance rankings.