Visit Rwanda has signed what Aston Villa describes as the biggest commercial partnership in the club’s history. The reported $26 million-a-year agreement will see the East African nation’s tourism brand appear on the front of Villa shirts for the first time while also promoting Rwanda’s coffee industry.
The multi-year deal makes Visit Rwanda the club’s Principal Partner, Official Tourism Partner and Official Coffee Provider. The branding will feature on the kits of Aston Villa’s men’s, women’s and academy teams. Rwandan coffee, one of the country’s leading exports, will also be served across the club’s hospitality and commercial operations, giving Rwanda another platform to promote its products alongside its tourism campaign.
Fans who have already purchased next season’s home shirt will be able to visit Aston Villa stores and have the new sponsor logo added free of charge.
The agreement replaces Betano as Villa’s front-of-shirt sponsor after the Premier League moved to phase gambling companies off the front of matchday shirts. It also comes as Aston Villa prepares for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League after winning last season’s Europa League, giving the club and its commercial partners a much bigger global audience.
Announcing the partnership, Aston Villa president of business operations Francesco Calvo said it reflected the club’s growing international ambitions.
“This is a very exciting partnership for Aston Villa and a symbol of the club’s continuing expansion and growth into international markets,” he said.
Janet Karemera, chief executive of the Rwanda Convention Bureau, said the agreement would help the country reach audiences across the UK, Europe and beyond through one of the world’s biggest sporting platforms.
The partnership extends beyond branding. Aston Villa and Visit Rwanda said they will work together on coaching, football development, leadership programmes and community initiatives.
The announcement immediately drew criticism from Amnesty International UK, which accused Rwanda of using high-profile football sponsorships to improve its global image despite longstanding concerns over its human rights record and allegations that it supports armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
“It’s not new that Rwanda is using sportswashing to deflect attention from its terrible human rights record,” Amnesty UK’s head of campaigns, Felix Jakens, told BBC Sport. He added that Aston Villa should recognise Rwanda is seeking to use the partnership to generate positive publicity.
Rwanda has repeatedly denied backing armed groups in eastern Congo, saying its security concerns are driven by hostile militias operating near its border.
The Aston Villa agreement is the latest step in Rwanda’s long-running sports marketing strategy. Over the past eight years, the country has signed sponsorship deals with Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich to promote tourism, investment and business under the “Visit Rwanda” campaign.
Villa effectively takes over the role Arsenal played for the past seven years. Visit Rwanda served as Arsenal’s sleeve sponsor in a deal reportedly worth about $13.4 million annually before it expired at the end of last season. Arsenal has since replaced the branding with software company Deel.
That Arsenal partnership also attracted criticism. In February 2025, Democratic Republic of Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner urged Arsenal to end what she described as “blood-stained sponsorship deals” with Visit Rwanda. Her appeal formed part of a broader campaign targeting Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich over their Rwanda partnerships, accusing Kigali of supporting the M23 rebel group in eastern Congo.
The same month, the UK suspended aid to Rwanda over allegations of support for M23. Rwanda has consistently rejected those claims.
For Aston Villa, the deal strengthens a growing commercial portfolio. The club generated about $506 million in revenue during the 2024-25 season, with sponsorship income rising by 31%. Securing a record shirt sponsorship provides another major source of revenue as Villa competes among Europe’s elite while remaining within financial sustainability rules.
For Rwanda, the partnership expands a global branding strategy that combines tourism promotion with efforts to showcase exports such as specialty coffee and position the country as a destination for international business and major sporting events. At the same time, that strategy continues to face criticism from human rights groups and regional rivals.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah