The sleeve partnership began in 2018
Arsenal have announced they will end the club’s eight-year sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda at the conclusion of the 2025/26 season.
The sleeve partnership began in 2018, and the current deal is reportedly worth more than £10m ($13.3m) per year.
But it has come under the spotlight after increased violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders Rwanda, though the framework of a peace deal between Rwandan-backed M23 rebels and the Congolese government was signed earlier this week.
In April, Paris St-Germain extended its sponsorship with Visit Rwanda until 2028, while Atletico Madrid signed a three-year deal to carry the logo on their men’s and women’s shirts this season.
In a statement, Arsenal said the club and the Rwanda development board had “mutually agreed” to end the deal.
The Gunners added it had “exceeded the original goals of the partnership”, which were to promote conservation and sustainable tourism while also supporting Rwanda’s ambition “to become an international sporting hub in Africa”.
Richard Garlick, Arsenal’s chief executive officer, said the partnership had played an important role in helping the Gunners “invest in our long-term vision to win major trophies, in a financially sustainable way”.
In February, DR Congo appealed to Arsenal, PSG and Bayern Munich, who are also sponsored by Visit Rwanda, to end their “blood-stained” deals amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the country.
A campaign group named Gunners for Peace protested outside Emirates Stadium during the first leg of the Champions League semi-final tie with PSG last season, with a banner that read ‘Drop Visit Rwanda’, and distributed armbands to cover up the Visit Rwanda logo on kits.
The group also made a spoof video urging fans to ‘Visit Tottenham’, Arsenal’s north London rivals, instead, to highlight the need for a sponsor “that better fits the values of the club”.
Gunners for Peace posted on Instagram, external the news of the deal ending showed Arsenal “still has the class and the values to do the right thing”, adding: “We all know that money talks, but if fans get together and speak louder then they have to listen.”
The news that Arsenal’s Visit Rwanda partnership will finish by mutual agreement at the end of this season has been celebrated by campaigners as a victory for fan power.
Repeated protests by Gunners for Peace may have had an impact on the Premier League club’s decision, but whether the sums involved still added up for Rwanda is another matter.
A Rwanda Development Board spokesperson said it was “proud” of a partnership that “broke new ground for tourism boards”.
Visit Rwanda will retain a strong presence at the top of the European game over the next few years via its sponsorships of PSG and Atletico Madrid.
The brand is also making its way into markets in the United States after announcing long-term deals with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and NBA side LA Clippers back in September.
DR Congo’s government has criticised the Rwanda Development Board’s partnerships, but has followed its neighbour by agreeing its own four-year deal with FC Barcelona to promote the country.
While those high-profile deals have garnered attention, hopes are that the recently agreed framework for peace between the DRC and the M23 will end decades of conflict in the resource-rich region.
