FAVOUR Ofili has been denied an official change of allegiance from Nigeria to Turkey by global track and field ruling body World Athletics.
The 23-year-old sprinter applied to switch nationalities following tension between her and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, who played a role in her inability to compete in the 100m at the Paris 2024 Olympics despite qualifying.
World Athletics claims that approving Ofili’s transfer would “compromise key Council imperatives, including protecting the credibility of national representative competitions and preventing the systematic recruitment of overseas athletes for Olympic representation”.
Ofili’s case was reviewed as part of 11 applications submitted by the Turkiye Athletics Federation, which World Athletics determined were linked to a government-led recruitment strategy aimed at strengthening teams ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Despite being granted Turkish citizenship and signing a lucrative club contract, Ofili remains ineligible to represent Türkiye in National Representative Competitions such as the World Championships or Olympic Games.
She may still compete in one-day meetings in a personal or club capacity.
Ofili, who had a bitter falling out with the AFN, remains tied to Nigeria for international competitions, pending any appeal.
The decision can be reconsidered and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Ofili has had a successful career so far despite her young age, setting the women’s 200m Nigerian record in 2022 (21.96 seconds) and the rarely run 150m world record of 15.85s in 2025.
The Louisiana State University alumna has a personal best of 10.85s in the 100m and has won several major championship medals for Nigeria, including 200m silver at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, African Games gold in the 4x400m, as well as 200m bronze at the 2021 World U-20 Championships.
