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Rwandan president Paul Kagame and Arsenal fans protesting the Visit Rwanda sponsorship before a match against Paris Saint-Germain Photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton Minutes before touching down at Kigali International Airport, a video plays on a Rwand Air flight from London. Former Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Jerome Alonzo hits a golf ball that is caught by Keylor Navas, another ex-PSG ‘keeper, who throws it to Lionel Messi. Messi flicks it to Sergio Ramos, who passes to Ander Herrera. It then cuts to the ball flying across Rwanda, showcasing the east African country, before landing on a golf course. Advertisement The Visit Rwanda promotional video ends with ‘Tee off your next adventure in Rwanda’ alongside the PSG club badge. Herrera signed for Spain’s Athletic Club in 2022, Messi and Ramos left the serial French champions in 2023 and Navas followed them a year later but the video’s message is clear: Rwanda is using its sponsorships with Western sports teams, it says, to boost tourism in the country. ‘Visit Rwanda’ is visible on the sleeve of the men’s and women’s Arsenal teams, as well as on advertising boards around the Premier League club’s main Emirates Stadium. It features on the sleeves of PSG’s women’s side, and on the training and warm-up kits of their men’s team. It also appeared on the latter’s sleeve during the Club World Cup this past summer. The government of Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president since 2000, has invested heavily via the country’s tourism board in commercial deals with Arsenal, PSG, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich, and has hosted international sporting events such as the UCI Road World Cycling Championship and the FIFA Congress in 2023, where Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, was re-elected — unopposed — to serve a second four-year term. Arsenal’s deal with Visit Rwanda started in 2018 and will end at the conclusion of this season, so the logo would be on their sleeves if they lift the Premier League trophy in May. The club’s annual financial accounts show the partnership has been worth around £10million a year ($13. 4m at the current rate). Bayern initially signed with Visit Rwanda in 2023 on a five-year contract, which was restructured earlier this year. Atletico signed their three-year contract in April. Highlighting the strength of the relationship between Arsenal’s American owners, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) — the Kroenke family who initially bought a 9. 9 per cent stake in 2007, increased that to approximately 63 per cent four years later and took full control in 2018 — and Rwandan Development Board (RDB), Visit Rwanda recently announced a deal with the Los Angeles Rams, the Kroenkes’ NFL franchise, and their So Fi Stadium home in that U. S. city. Advertisement The RDB says the country receives more visitors from the United States than anywhere else, which is why they started targeting the country through advertising. According to the RDB, the tourism industry generated $620million in 2023. But this is not simply a story of investment and tourism. Most of the teams’ deals with Kagame’s country have been plagued by protests and accusations of sportswashing. Arsenal fans showed their distaste for the sponsorship through the Gunners For Peace group, which, in April, unveiled a ‘Visit Tottenham’ billboard outside the Emirates as part of a campaign against the club’s Visit Rwanda ties. A survey by Arsenal Supporters Trust, published in July, showed 90 per cent of the respondents wanted the club to cut ties with Visit Rwanda once the contract expires in 2026. Just under three per cent said they were happy for it to continue. Some of the responses about the commercial partnership described it as “unethical”, “morally indefensible”, and that it “reflects poorly on the club’s stated values”. Bayern and PSG fans have held their own protests against the deals. From 2022, United Nations (UN) reports have linked the Rwandan government to the M23, which the UN says is an “armed group” operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the mineral-rich nation that borders Rwanda to the west. In February 2025, the UN called on the Rwandan government to “cease support to the M23 and immediately withdraw from DRC territory”. The UN says the Rwandan army is in “de facto” control of the M23 and, in an August report, stated it had received “first-hand accounts indicating that at least 319 civilians were killed by M23 fighters, aided by members of the Rwanda Defence Force” in July. As a result of the fighting in the eastern DRC, thousands of civilian lives have been lost, with the UN saying in September that the M23 has “engaged in a campaign of intimidation and violent repression through a recurrent pattern of summary executions, torture and enforced disappearances”. It also alleges M23 has “carried out widespread sexual violence, mainly in the form of gang rape”. Advertisement Kagame’s government categorically denies offering financial or military support and says it has only taken measures to protect Rwandan territory. The Athletic spoke to Rwandans and Congolese in the UK and travelled to Kigali to tell the story of what fans, government officials and those affected by the conflict feel about the links between Western sports teams and Rwanda. Central to the DRC’s economy are natural minerals, such as gold, cobalt, tin, copper and uranium, with gold being found across eastern DRC, where fighting has been taking place. As the New York Times reported in March, multiple UN reports have accused Rwanda of using the conflict to loot the DRC’s minerals after the M23 took control of mining areas. On December 4, U. S. President Donald Trump hosted Kagame and DRC counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in Washington, D. C. , where a peace deal was signed that would seek to end the conflict. Trump said it is the “eighth war” he has ended in “less than one year”. Despite the deal, the BBC has reported fighting has continued in eastern DRC.   After the meeting, Kagame remained in Washington and attended the World Cup draw at the city’s Kennedy Memorial Center. Kagame is an Arsenal fan, there is a Visit Rwanda-branded hospitality box at the Emirates, and the Rwandan president has travelled to north London to watch them play, most recently for their Champions League tie against Bayern in April last year. Congrats to @Arsenal on a massive derby win! ! Top performance across the pitch; And Eze…. .what a whole new level! ? Super cool guests at the @visitrwanda_now Box! #Let It All Work Out #Visit Rwanda pic. twitter. com/0IG2k TRUEX — Busingye Johnston (@Busingye Johns) November 23, 2025 Following the allegations made against Rwanda supporting M23, fans of Arsenal, Bayern and PSG all protested against the country’s commercial ties to their clubs earlier this year. As well as its ‘Visit Tottenham’ billboard outside the Emirates in April, Gunners For Peace said: “We would rather wear anything on our sleeves — even Tottenham (Arsenal’s neighbours and bitterest rivals). So we created the ‘Visit Tottenham’ campaign to highlight just how wrong Visit Rwanda is. ” Advertisement At the turn of the year, PSG fans launched a ‘Stop Visit Rwanda’ petition, which was signed by more than 75, 000 people, calling on the club to cut its commercial ties to the east African country. They said continuing the partnership “would risk giving the impression (PSG) is closing its eyes to human-rights violations”. Fred Bauma, a Congolese human-rights activist who says he stopped supporting Arsenal because of their ties to Rwanda, told The Athletic: “At the beginning (of Arsenal’s deal with Visit Rwanda in 2018), it was a different time. I didn’t agree, but it wasn’t the worst thing. However… I found it unacceptable that Arsenal could continue to maintain that relationship. I am glad they ended it, but it’s a bit late. ” Noble Marara, a former personal-protection officer for Kagame, left Rwanda in 2000 and now lives in the UK. He says he can understand why Arsenal took the deal but also questions why they chose to renew in 2021. “I don’t think the clubs are doing anything wrong by being sponsored (by governments), ” Marara says to The Athletic. “But before signing the contract, the clubs should do their research to see if the money they are going to receive is coming from blood. ” Jonathan Musonera, a former captain in the army of the Rwandan Patriotic Front during the 1990s who now lives in the UK and was warned by the Metropolitan Police of an assassination threat to his life in 2011, holds a similar view, telling The Athletic: “I blame the clubs for taking the money. The clubs should never have accepted the money. ” Touch down in Kigali and, apart from the odd football shirt, there is little visual evidence of Arsenal, PSG and Atletico branding. But it is easy to get the impression Arsenal are one of the most popular clubs in the country. Taxi drivers point to them or London rivals Chelsea as the team they support, reeling off the names of current and former Arsenal players they love. Thierry Henry is a clear favourite, as is Bukayo Saka. Arsenal’s growing popularity has seen the official Rwanda Arsenal Supporters Club (RASC), which started in 2016, near 1, 000 members. Advertisement When Arsenal hosted Bayern in the Champions League on November 26, The Athletic watched the game in the company of Olivier Nemeye, secretary of the RASC, and around 200 others. Sitting in Maison Noire, an open-air bar and restaurant in Kigali, Nemeye pulls out his phone and jokingly says that he struggles to keep up with all the Arsenal Whats App groups he’s in. One of them, ‘Arsenal 24/7’, has more than 1, 000 unread messages. But his attention quickly turns to the big screen as, five minutes before kick-off, the Emirates is shown. Huge cheers go up before the crowd erupts into chants of ‘Arsenal, Arsenal’. The screen is often briefly obstructed by a member of staff delivering alcoholic drinks, usually Primus, a Rwandan-brewed beer, to the tables. You cannot escape the smell of food either, with a grill cooking everything from T-bone steaks to skewered goat. Although there are plenty of Arsenal shirts in the crowd, Nemeye suggests you cannot buy authentic replicas in Rwanda. Having entered several shops, The Athletic could only source fake versions that cost $30 (£22). You will see plenty of these at Kimironko, a bustling farmers’ market in Kigali that sells everything from food and fabrics to fridge magnets. One stall owner notes our interest in Arsenal and then pulls out his phone to show pictures of him wearing the club’s kit through the years. He says his friends used to call him Jack — after the club’s former England midfielder Jack Wilshere — when he was younger because, he says, he had a big bottom. During the Bayern match, each goal of Arsenal’s 3-1 win was wildly celebrated by the 200-strong group at Maison Noire. A surreal moment came afterwards, when Louis Dunford’s The Angel (North London Forever) was played through the bar’s big speakers, prompting supporters to turn on the torches on their phones. Advertisement The fans’ love for Arsenal was clear and, as Nemeye was keen to point out, Rwanda’s association with the club is a source of pride for many. “Imagine if you like something and you see your country partnering with them, it is like an injection of joy, ” Nemeye says. As we get into Nemeye’s car, parked a few yards from the bar, the conversation turns to what he thinks about the fan protests in north London against Rwanda’s deal with Arsenal. “We just want to separate football and politics, ” Nemeye says. “Football is an escape, and to enjoy. When you see people protesting against your country, then of course you have to feel sad because everyone is proud of their country. ” Nemeye talks glowingly of the former players who have visited Rwanda as part of the deal, including three Premier League winners with Arsenal: Robert Pires and Ray Parlour in February 2022, and Tony Adams in January 2020. The only active men’s players to visit were David Luiz — who has since left the club — in 2019 and Jurrien Timber in 2023. Timber spent three days in Rwanda and described it via Instagram as a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”.     A post shared by Visit Rwanda (@visitrwanda_now) Several members of Arsenal Women’s squad have also travelled to the country, with Katie Mc Cabe, Caitlin Foord and Laia Codina visiting in August. Bayern also have ties to Visit Rwanda, although they announced in August that their initial five-year deal, signed in 2023, has been restructured. “The new arrangement transitions away from a commercial sponsorship to a dedicated partnership focus on youth development in Rwanda through the expansion of the FC Bayern Youth Academy in Kigali, ” a club statement read. Visit Rwanda deal branding is no longer visible at the Allianz Arena but the relationship between the country and club remains. Before restructuring their deal, the perennial Bundesliga champions had also come under pressure from their own supporters, who unfurled a banner at the game against Eintracht Frankfurt in February that read: “Visit Rwanda — Whoever looks on with indifference is betraying the values of FC Bayern. ” Advertisement In the same month, Jan-Christian Dreesen, the club’s chief executive, said — as reported via Germany’s DW News — he “personally sent two employees to Rwanda to monitor the situation”. Bauma, the Congolese human-rights activist, says of Bayern’s change of deal: “(They) still continue their relationship, but in not such a public way, yet it is no less problematic. ” Speaking with The Athletic at her office located inside the Amahoro National Stadium in Kigali, Nelly Mukazayire, Rwanda’s minister of sports, says of the Bayern academy: “We have 24 athletes who stay together, study together and train together in Kigali. ” PSG also have a youth development programme in Rwanda. Muzakayire says it has “223 kids” in its system, and there is also a developmental programme for Rwandan coaches and technical staff that sees them spend “two weeks” in France “to get training”. In a statement to The Athletic, PSG said the deal with Rwanda was to pursue two main objectives, promoting youth education through sport and sustainable tourism. Regarding the PSG academy, it said: “Since the start of the partnership, several hundred girls and boys have been able to practice sport free of charge and in high-quality facilities. ” It cited tourism revenues in Rwanda increasing by 52 per cent between 2018 and 2024 and added: “The club’s ambition is to maintain the long-term momentum built over the past seven years in support of local communities, particularly young people. ” Arsenal recently welcomed a group of youth players from Rwanda to their academy at Hale End in north London. England international Myles Lewis-Skelly recorded a video for the Isonga — a youth talent development programme in Rwanda — delegation. Mukazayire says that through the Visit Rwanda deal, Arsenal run a coaching training programme and invite 15 students from the Isonga group to travel to the club every year. An inspiring message from Myles Anthony Lewis-Skelly, @Arsenal and England national team midfielder, to the Isonga delegation as they conclude their Arsenal Academy Training Experience and head back home. #Isonga Program #Visit Rwanda #Sportsdevelopment pic. twitter. com/i8SHd8c8dh — Ministry of Sports | Rwanda (@Rwanda_Sports) November 1, 2025 In February, the Guardian reported that Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, the DRC’s foreign minister, wanted to meet Arsenal officials to discuss the Visit Rwanda deal. Advertisement Coinciding with her visit to London to raise concerns over the English club’s partnership with Visit Rwanda, Wagner also wrote to Bayern and PSG, calling on them to end their “blood-stained sponsorship deals with this oppressor nation”. “Countless lives have been lost; rape, murder and theft prevail, ” the letter, as reported by the BBC, added. “Your sponsor is directly responsible for this misery. If not for your own consciences, then the clubs should do it for the victims of Rwandan aggression. ” Wagner, in a response to a series of questions sent over email, told The Athletic: “Whilst Arsenal did not respond directly to the letter sent to them in February, we nonetheless welcome their recent decision to terminate their partnership with Visit Rwanda. ” She noted the impact of Arsenal fans protesting the deal through the Gunners For Peace group. Samuel Baker Byansi, a Rwandan investigative journalist and author of From Watchdogs To Traitors, tells The Athletic over email:  “Arsenal’s decision — following Bayern Munich’s earlier withdrawal — demonstrates that even prestigious institutions eventually face consequences for complicity in sportswashing. “When fans buy jerseys or watch matches featuring ‘Visit Rwanda’ branding, they are inadvertently participating in a propaganda campaign designed to make people forget that the same government funding their club is simultaneously funding a rebel group that massacres civilians, uses child soldiers, rapes women and has displaced millions. ” The Rwandan government has consistently denied these allegations. The lasting legacy of Arsenal’s Visit Rwanda deal, Wagner believes, is players sporting the logo at the same time “the people of eastern DRC endured one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts and most serious and overlooked humanitarian crises”. Jean-Guy Afrika holds a different view. Advertisement As you enter Afrika’s 10th-floor office, you are immediately drawn to the glass windows that look out to the expansive rolling hills outside Kigali. He also has a framed Arsenal shirt hanging up to the left of his desk. The Rwandan Development Board (RDB) chief executive cites a strategy, born in the 2000s, that centred on boosting tourism in the country, which, he says, totalled around “$35million” in 2006, but had climbed to being worth $620m two years ago. “In 2006, none of what you’re seeing here existed; the convention centre, the hotels and everything, ” Afrika says. “We had logistical issues in terms of travelling in and out of Kigali, and of course the whole issue of perception, and that is what I don’t need to describe as far as the country is concerned. ” By ‘perception’, Afrika is referring to the 100-day genocide of the Tutsi minority by Hutu extremists in 1994. According to the UN, more than one million people were killed and an estimated 150, 000 to 250, 000 women were raped. This, he believes, led to a stigma of Rwanda not being a safe place to visit. The Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel army, led by Kagame, ended the genocide in July 1994 by overthrowing the extremist Hutu authorities. In a devastated nation with a fragile economy, Kagame initially served as vice-president and defence minister before being elected president in 2000. From 2006 onwards, Afrika cites an influx of hotels being built to help create tailored tourism packages. By 2017, he says the Rwandan government felt ready to “bridge that gap in the world’s perception” and open its doors for business. This, he says, is what led to the deal with Arsenal. “We knew we needed some top-of-the-funnel marketing in things that were loud and would be seen everywhere, ” Afrika explains. “Football was a natural choice, and the Premier League was a natural choice. There were very nice surprises that we had with our partnership with Arsenal, such as the impact it had on the presumption of Rwanda as a prestigious destination within Africa. ” Advertisement In the same way Kagame has denied allegations that Rwanda is supporting the M23 group, Afrika and Mukazayire both dismissed accusations that sponsoring Western football clubs is a sportswashing exercise. “If you really want to mix politics and sport, then you confuse everything, ” Mukazayire notes. “But if you leave the politics to where it has to be handled, and we look at sport, the sport world makes sense. ” When Arsenal and the RDB announced on November 19 that they would not be renewing the Visit Rwanda partnership beyond the end of this season — despite talks taking place to do so — it was noted that Rwanda was going to pursue other opportunities and markets, having just partnered with both the Rams and the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers in the United States. Afrika told The Athletic there were no disagreements between Arsenal and the RDB over a renewal, referring to Rwanda’s tourism board seeking strategic alternatives. The RDB’s chief executive dismissed the notion that fan protests played a role in the contract not being renewed. VISIT RWANDA becomes the official sponsor of the @LAClippers & @Rams NFL — the first African tourism brand in both the @NBA & @NFL $650M tourism revenue in 2024

Goal: $1B by 2029#Visit Rwanda | #NBA | #NFL pic. twitter. com/WWBe DFHy2c — Rwanda Development Board (@RDBrwanda) September 29, 2025 “Naturally, they would form part of conversations, but we were always aligned in terms of the messages, and they (Arsenal) understood our position on the issues, ” he said. “It didn’t really factor into the conversations for the renewal, not in a way that would have been material and would have driven the decisions as far as we are concerned. ” Pressed again on whether Arsenal raised concerns around the fan protests and potential fallout if the contract was renewed, Afrika was clear. “No, ” he said. Later that same afternoon, November 27, Kagame was asked at a press conference for his thoughts on why the Arsenal deal ended. Starting his answer by saying, “We won last night, ” referring to Arsenal’s victory against Bayern, the country’s president highlighted a disagreement during the renewal talks. Advertisement “It reached a point where they said, ‘OK, instead of disagreeing too much, you may find another partner that will satisfy you if you don’t want to listen to our demands’, ” Kagame said. “This is really what happened. ” Asked for clarification on whose version of events was right — Afrika or Kagame — Mukazayire was diplomatic. “It’s both, ” she said. “Our focus was on that next strategic move. When a contract is at the end, you go back to the table for a negotiation and to see if everything fits. ” Afrika and Mukazayire say their country’s relationship with sports clubs will only continue to grow. They point to the agreements with the Rams and Clippers, as well as the Cycling World Championships, and also reference how Rwanda is in talks with Formula One to bring a race to Africa in the coming years. There is also a deal with the NBA and International Basketball Federation that led to the creation of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), which will hold its play-off matches in Kigali. While supporters of Arsenal, Bayern and PSG have protested against their clubs taking funds from Visit Rwanda, deals with teams in the United States and other Western sporting institutions mean we will continue to see the east African country’s branding for some time to come. Arsenal declined to comment. Bayern and Atletico did not respond to requests for comment. Dan Sheldon is a football news correspondent for The Athletic. He has previously covered Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Southampton FC. Follow Dan on Twitter @Dan_Sheldon_