Amnesty International warns Aston Villa over 'sportswashing' Visit Rwanda shirt deal

Aston Villa’s new front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda has drawn an immediate rebuke from Amnesty International, which accused the Rwandan government of using sport to obscure what it called a “terrible” human rights record.

The Midlands club announced the agreement on Tuesday, billing it as “the most important sponsorship deal in the history of the football club.” The Visit Rwanda logo will appear on the shirts of the men’s, women’s, and academy teams.

Felix Jakens, Amnesty UK’s head of campaigns, said the pattern was familiar. “It’s not new that Rwanda is using sportswashing to deflect attention from its terrible human rights record,” he told the Press Association. He urged Villa to recognise that Rwanda was “seeking to leverage this partnership to create positive PR,” pointing to what he described as the country being “prolific in arbitrary detention, torture and the repression of free speech.”

Jakens also linked the deal to the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, stating that “Rwanda is playing a significant role in fuelling that conflict — both through its support to the M23 rebels and the direct actions of its military in eastern Congo.” He called on both Aston Villa and the Premier League to publicly challenge Rwanda’s sportswashing strategy.

The announcement comes weeks after Arsenal ended their own Visit Rwanda sleeve sponsorship, a deal that had run since 2018 and attracted sustained criticism throughout its duration.

Villa’s head of business operations, Francesco Calvo, defended the partnership, describing it as “a symbol of the club’s continuing expansion and growth into international markets” and citing opportunities in tourism, investment, and sporting development.

Visit Rwanda has built a significant football portfolio beyond the Premier League. The organisation also sponsors Atletico Madrid and last year extended its arrangement with Paris Saint-Germain until 2028, a renewal that places the Visit Rwanda logo on PSG’s men’s training kit and women’s first-team shirt.