World Athletics has ruled against Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili’s attempt to switch her national allegiance to Turkey, rejecting her application alongside those of 10 other foreign athletes.
The decision was announced by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria in a statement issued on Thursday, according to the World Athletics’ Nationality Review Panel, which found that the applications were part of a wider recruitment drive by the Turkish Athletics Federation aimed at attracting overseas athletes.
According to the governing body, the strategy risks undermining the integrity of international athletics by prioritising imported talent over the development of homegrown athletes.
“In its decisions, the panel considered that approval of these applications would impinge upon and compromise the imperatives underlying the World Athletics eligibility rules and transfer of allegiance regulations,” World Athletics wrote in a statement.
The panel found that the applications formed part of a coordinated recruitment strategy led by the Turkish government, acting through a wholly-owned government club, to attract overseas athletes with lucrative contracts. The goal was to enable those athletes to represent Turkey at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
“Given the common features across the applications, the panel assessed them together and determined that such an approach is inconsistent with the core principles of the regulations. These principles are designed to safeguard the credibility of international competition, encourage member federations to invest in the development of domestic talent, and maintain confidence among athletes that national teams are not primarily assembled through external recruitment.”
As a result, Ofili and the other athletes are not eligible to represent Turkey in national representative competitions or other relevant international events. The panel noted, however, that this does not prevent them from competing in one-day meetings or road races in a personal or club capacity.
Ofili, 23, initiated the process in 2025 after publicly accusing the Athletics Federation of Nigeria of neglect and administrative failures. She missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to Nigeria’s failure to meet mandatory drug-testing requirements on her behalf, and a similar administrative lapse ruled her out of the 100m event at the Paris 2024 Olympics after her name was not submitted in time.
