Bayern Munich bow to fan pressure and end Visit Rwanda sponsorship but don’t cut all ties

 

After months of pressure, German giants Bayern Munich have announced the end of their sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda, but they will retain a relationship with the East African country. 

Just days after signing a sponsorship deal with UAE-owned airline Emirates, Bayern Munich moved to end their commercial partnership with Rwanda’s tourism authority, responding to mounting pressure from fans and media. In a statement, the club called it “a strategic evolution of their partnership”.

“The new arrangement transitions the relationship away from a commercial sponsorship to a dedicated partnership focusing on football development in Rwanda through the expansion of the FC Bayern Youth Academy in Kigali,” said Bayern Munich.

Bayern has Visit Rwanda advertisements on pitchside hoarding and promoted tourism and investment opportunities in the East African country. In February, Congo’s foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, issued an open letter urging Bayern Munich, along with fellow Rwanda-sponsored clubs Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, to cut ties with what she described as “blood-stained sponsorship deals with this oppressor nation.”

Rwanda has been accused of supporting the M23 rebel group, which is vying to take control of mineral-rich eastern Congo. The country also stands accused of exploiting eastern Congo’s minerals itself. Rwanda has denied these allegations.

Led by Paul Kagame, a dictator in office since 2000, the country’s first presence in European football was a 2018 shirt sleeve partnership with Arsenal. A year later, Visit Rwanda teamed up with Paris Saint-Germain, a deal that was renewed in April. Visit Rwanda also sponsors Spanish club Atletico Madrid.

Earlier this year, Bayern fans raised a banner criticising the partnership. It read: ‘Visit Rwanda – whoever looks on with indifference is betraying the values of FC Bayern!’

However, Bayern are not ending their relationship with Rwanda, but simply shifting the focus. Bayern chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen said that the contract expiry date of 2028 remains unchanged.

“In constructive talks about our future direction, we agreed that a very special part of our relationship with (the Rwanda Development Board) was the developmental nature of our work in Kigali through the FC Bayern Academy,” said Bayern chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen in a statement.

“We are therefore transforming our commercial partnership into a talent program and expanding the FC Bayern Academy in Kigali together with the RDB as both a football and social initiative. This remains perfectly aligned to our strategic objective of developing playing talent in Africa.”

 

IWF