Photo Credit: Philippe Fitte/IAAF

Alarmed by the massive exodus of African athletes to other countries, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Monday, arrived at a decision to freeze the Transfer of Allegiance process.

Several athletes of Kenyan, Nigerian and Ethiopian descent especially, have switched allegiances to countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey amongst others, in recent times.

According to IAAF President Sebastian Coe who chaired the 208th IAAF Council Meeting held in France on 6th February, the decision will not affect the 15 applications for transfer which are already in process.

He said: “It has become abundantly clear with regular multiple transfers of athletes especially from Africa that the present rules are no longer fit for purpose. Athletics, which at its highest levels of competition is a championship sport based upon national teams, is particularly vulnerable in this respect.

“Furthermore, the present rules do not offer the protections necessary to the individual athletes involved and are open to abuse.”

Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) President and Africa Area Group Representative on the IAAF Council, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, will join hands with the working group set up by the international body to ensure that the current trend is looked into.

Malboum decried the current situation where athletes do not have a full understanding of what they are going into, and are eventually taken advantage of:

“The present situation is wrong. What we have is a wholesale market for African talent open to the highest bidder. Our present rules are being manipulated to the detriment of Athletics’ credibility.

“Lots of the individual athletes concerned, many of whom are transferred at a young age, do not understand that they are forfeiting their nationality. This must end and a new way forward found which respects the athletes’ rights and the sports’ dignity”, he said.

Photo Credit: Philippe Fitte/IAAF
Photo Credit: Philippe Fitte/IAAF

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Yemi Galadima is a Senior Sportswriter and Editor at Making of Champions. She has a bias for Athletics and was previously a Sports Reporter at the National Mirror, where she hosted a weekly column ‘On the Track with Yemi Olus’ for over two years. A self-acclaimed ‘athletics junkie’, she has covered national and international events live, such as the African Athletics Championships, African Games, Olympics and World Athletics Championships. She also freelances for World Athletics.

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