The United World of Wrestling (UWW) has adopted changes to the rules for changing sports citizenship, reports Georgy Bryusov, director of the sports training center of the Russian national teams, on the Telegram channel.
According to him, all national wrestling federations received the decision from the UWW office in an official letter. The rules regarding change of nationality have been revised to bring them into line with the principles of the Olympic Charter. According to Bryusov, the old rules had more flexible requirements, which negatively affected the participation of the indigenous population of some countries in the sport. The UWW recognized this and created a working group to analyze the situation and develop stricter rules.
The basic principles of the new rules when changing sports citizenship are as follows:
— A valid (new) passport is a prerequisite for the right to change citizenship. All licenses will be issued on the basis of a valid passport only. Residence permits will no longer be accepted.
— Each national federation can only obtain authorization for a single change of nationality per sex (one man + one woman), regardless of the age category.
— To be allowed to compete for another country, three years must have passed since the former country’s last performance at the continental or world championships, ranking series tournaments, cups, as well as the Olympic games, continental or regional.
— Applications for change of citizenship are accepted exclusively from October 1 to December 20. If all conditions are met, the change of citizenship will take effect on January 1 of the following year. In 2025, as an exception, applications will be accepted until January 19, 2025.
— Administrative fees have been introduced at the UWW as well as compensation for the training process.
– An athlete with dual nationality who chooses to represent a country other than the one for which he has held a national license for three of the last five years (or whose passport indicates his place of birth in another country) must provide a proof of residence in this country or proof of obtaining citizenship at birth / before reaching the age of ten.
The Bureau also decided to take measures to promote the performance of athletes of national origin:
— 2025 and 2026: (per style) a maximum of two athletes with a new nationality, subject to the participation of at least two athletes of national origin;
— 2027 and 2028: (per style) a maximum of two athletes with a new nationality, subject to the participation of twice as many athletes of national origin;
– from 2029: (per style) a maximum of one athlete with a new nationality, subject to the participation of four times as many athletes of national origin.
— Qualification for the 2027 and 2028 Olympic Games: maximum two athletes with a new nationality. From 2029, a maximum of one athlete with a new citizenship.
The Bureau adopted rules regarding the transition from the previous federation. Original nationality federations can issue authorizations to a maximum of three athletes of each gender per year, regardless of age categories. Additionally, transition rules have been adopted for those currently competing for a new country without holding that country’s passport.
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Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
