IAAF halts Transfer of Allegiance process

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.