The shirt sleeve sponsorship deal between Arsenal and Rwanda has come to an end after eight years of the Premier League club players donning the ‘Visit Rwanda’ brand on the pitch.

There were reports in October 2025 of ongoing negotiations to renew the partnership, which had previously been extended in 2021, but, from the latest developments, these seem to have yielded no fruit.

In a statement on Wednesday, Arsenal chief executive Richard Garlick thanked the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) for their partnership, which he said had run its course."Our first-ever sleeve partnership with Visit Rwanda has been a significant journey. Over many years, we've worked together to raise global awareness of Rwanda's tourism and conservation efforts and built many new connections with our supporters across Africa. The commitment and support of Visit Rwanda throughout our partnership has played an important role in driving forward our ambitions -- helping us invest in our long-term vision to win major trophies, in a financially sustainable way,” he said.

As a first mover, Rwanda’s partnership with Arsenal set pace for other African countries to pursue similar deals, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) also recently signing a €44 million ($50.67 million) deal with FC Barcelona, and others with AS Monaco and AC Milan.

It broke new ground for tourism boards around the world, driving awareness and visitation for Rwandan tourism at a pace traditional campaigns could never match,” said RDB CEO Jean-Guy Afrika.

The controversiesAlthough both parties said the termination of the partnership agreement was mutual, the Arsenal-Rwanda partnership has in the recent past been dogged by ethical and geopolitical controversies, which observers say could have contributed to its ending.

Rwanda paid $107 million in the past eight years to Arsenal.

In August, Bayern Munich cancelled its five-year commercial sponsorship deal it had signed with Rwanda in 2023, transitioning to a non-commercial, three-year partnership focusing solely on youth football programmes.

Although the club did not explicitly state the reasons for ending the deal, the decision followed intense external scrutiny and pressure to end it.

Rwanda was paying Arsenal for prominent branding rights, primarily the "Visit Rwanda" logo on the sleeve of matchday kits, LED boards at the Emirates Stadium, and post-match interview backdrops.

The partnership, which will close with the current season, drew criticism from a section of the club's fan base, saying Arsenal shouldn’t have been associated with a country with a tainted human rights record and a survey of their 2,500+ worldwide membership showed that only 2 percent of respondents thought the £10 million ($13.06 million) /year Visit Rwanda sponsorship should be renewed, while 86 percent wanted the contract to end and a replacement found.

In February, the DRC government called on Arsenal to end the sponsorship after M23 rebels, said to be backed Rwanda, seized Goma, the provincial capital of the eastern province of North Kivu.

Tourism numbersRDB says the partnership has spurred the country’s tourism, backing that assertion with visitor arrivals numbers which it says reached 1.3 million, and tourism revenues rising to $650 million, a 47 percent rise since the partnership began.

While it also claimed the deal "paid for itself" through indirect benefits, including a 15 percent rise in foreign direct investment inquiries tied to branding.

But some analysts dispute the attribution of this growth to Arsenal players displaying the “Visit Rwanda” logo on their matchday shirts, saying the country’s tourism numbers were on an upward trajectory even before the deal, and it had little to no impact, and the numbers would have risen even without it.

Available data shows strong, consistent pre-sponsorship growth driven by gorilla permit hikes, new hotels, opening of Kigali Convention Centre and post-genocide rebranding.

Rwanda’s tourism revenues doubled between 2010 and 2017, from $201 million to $496 million, growing by 147 percent and recording a 13 percent growth every year, a growth which by far outpaced the revenue growth rate recorded between 2018, when the partnership was signed, and 2024.

Data shows that tourism revenues increased from $498 million in 2018 to $650 million in 2024 – 30 percent growth.

Analysts says that the sponsorship only amplified and accelerated an existing trend, especially in European and high-value segments of the market, but it did not start the growth from a low or stagnant base.

Is Rwanda shifting focus to North American market, then?The recent signing of multiyear sponsorship deals with NBA club,Los Angeles Clippers, and NFL team Rams shows Rwanda shifting to the North American tourism market, which looks to be giving more promise.

“Whilst we are now focused on expanding that momentum into new sports and new markets, we remain grateful to Arsenal for its support, partnership, and shared belief in Rwanda’s story over the past eight years. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the wider Kroenke Sports C Entertainment Group through our recent partnerships with the LA Rams and So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles, and we remain a fully committed and engaged partner of Arsenal’s men’s and women’s teams for the remainder of the season. We wish them all the very best in their continuing quest for even more sporting success in the months ahead,” Mr Afrika said in a statement.

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