Number of para-athletes who change citizenship is small, but there’s trend towards increase in such cases – Sushkevych
Valeriy Sushkevych, President of the National Committee for Sports for the Disabled of Ukraine, states that the number of para-athletes who exchange Ukrainian citizenship for foreign citizenship is small, but there is a trend toward an increase in such cases.
"Such cases do occur. There are stories of people getting married and not really planning to return to Ukraine. Then, the athlete approaches us with a request to transfer to another country's national team in accordance with the regulations. Such cases already exist, and we are working with them," Sushkevych said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, answering a question about whether there have been any cases of Ukrainian para-athletes changing their sports citizenship or moving to another country.
He believes such cases should be divided into several types: the first is when a person who changes citizenship leaves sport and will no longer compete; the second is when a person changes citizenship and wants to continue their sporting career in another country.
"The statistics are still small, not even in the dozens, but in the single digits. But, you know, there is a slight upward trend in such cases. For the most part, everything is done discreetly and with respect for the country from which these athletes emerged, with respect for our system," the National Committee president said, responding to a question about the number of athletes who have exchanged Ukrainian for foreign citizenship.
Moreover, he stated that this issue concerns not only athletes, but also sports managers.
"We have some truly top-level sports managers who emigrated. For example, one of the best, if not the best, sports manager at the National Paralympic Committee emigrated first to Europe, then to Canada. He wanted to work in Ukraine, but his wife and children were caught in a bombing in Kyiv while he was in China for the Paralympics, and the couple decided to leave," Sushkevych said.
Among other things, he noted that there are cases where athletes who were preparing for the Paralympics and Deaflympics and are abroad say they will not come to Ukraine because they fear for their safety.
"And because of this, today there are losses among the national Paralympic and Deaflympic teams," Sushkevych stated.
As reported, in February 2025, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOC) stated that they had no information on the number of Ukrainian athletes who had changed their sporting citizenship or the number of foreign athletes who had received Ukrainian sporting citizenship.