The Seattle Storm power forward’s application to compete in the country where her parents were born was rejected for the third time by the International Basketball Federation. The star forward had hoped to represent the African nation at the World Cup and the LA Olympics.
“After the second time trying to appeal, I made my peace with it. The third time, I was like, let me say I gave it my all. I’m kind of at the point where I’m very much over it,” Nneka Ogwumike told The Associated Press in an interview this week. “It’s unfortunate, but there’s just certain things you can’t control.”
Ogwumike withdrew from representing the US in 2020, after two World Cup victories. Her first application was turned down because FIBA said she tried to switch too close to the start of the Olympics. The governing body then said her appeal to play in last year’s Paris Games came after the deadline. FIBA discourages athletes from playing for more than one senior national team in their careers, and Ogwumike revealed that USA Basketball told her not to try to get a passport from another country when she was younger.
“My involvement with USA is for them, their strongest point, but it doesn’t necessarily make the sense that it does to the individual that’s being penalised for it,” Ogwumike said. “You guys are going to continue using this excuse over and over again. I’m not about to beat a dead horse. I gave it an honest try so I feel fine about it.”
WNBA star Nneka Ogwumike’s dream to play for Nigeria has been denied by FIBA for the third time.
USA Basketball had given its blessing for Ogwumike to try to play for Nigeria after she was left off the American team for the Tokyo Games.
Last month, Ogwumike became the first four-time winner of the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award for her work as the president of the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association. She’s also been the recipient of WNBA champion, MVP and Rookie of the Year after being first overall draft pick in 2012.
The 35-year-old also has the most second-team selections of any player in the WNBA, having earned her eighth WNBA Second Team honours this month. Ogwumike ended the 2025 regular season tied for eighth in points per game (18.3) and surpassed 7,000 career points on 1 August. She ranks fourth in field goals made per game (7.3) and scored 15+ points in 32 games during the 2025 season, becoming one of five players in the league to notch more than 30 such games this season.
With her career records, the US would surely want her to their team, or at the very least, not represent Nigeria, which is up-and-coming in the Olympic stage. The country became the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympics at the Paris Games before losing to the US. Ogwumike feels that this has a hand in her case. She now hopes that her fight to try to play for Nigeria will help shed some light on the process and “how people decide to pick their nationalities when they want to represent their country.”
The International Olympic Committee allows athletes to change nationalities after completing their requirements, as well as those of the Olympian’s national and sport’s governing bodies. They recently approved 13 athletes’ changes of sporting nationality for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games.
