Aston Villa agree £20m-a-year sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda

Villa have signed a deal for Visit Rwanda to become their new front-of-shirt sponsor worth nearly £20million-a-year.

The African country’s tourist board will replace Betano after a multi-year agreement the club have branded the “most important sponsorship deal in their history” was sealed.

Villa had no option but to seek a new sponsor due to Premier League rules around gambling advertising which came into force this summer.

The club consider the new deal, which is understood to be worth around 20 per cent more than their previous agreement with Betano, an excellent one at a time when several of their top flight rivals are still looking for new sponsorship.

It is the first major deal negotiated by Francesco Calvo, since he replaced Chris Heck as president of business operations a year ago.

Yet it is not without controversy, with Visit Rwanda’s deals with Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain having long been the subject of scrutiny.

Critics have accused the Rwandan government of investment as “sportswashing” to deflect from what Human Rights groups have described as an “abysmal” record on human rights.

The deals, which included a shirt sleeve sponsorship with Arsenal, were last year described as “blood stained” by the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, following violence involving the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the eastern part of the country.

Arsenal announced the end of their deal by “mutual agreement” last November, following protests by fan group Gunners for Peace. Bayern moved their partnership away with Visit Rwanda from a commercial agreement last year, while more than 75,000 PSG supporters signed a petition titled “Stop Visit Rwanda”.

In a statement, Villa described their agreement as “the most important sponsorship deal in the history of the club”.

Calvo continued: “This is a very exciting partnership for Aston Villa Football Club and a symbol of the club’s continuing expansion and growth into international markets.

“There is a great range and depth of opportunities for collaboration, learning and innovation and we are looking forward to working with Visit Rwanda to deliver meaningful activations through tourism, investment and sporting development.”

Janet Karemera, CEO of Rwanda convention bureau (RCB), added: "This sponsorship is a powerful expression of Rwanda's ambition to engage global audiences through one of the world's most influential platforms and position our country as a destination to visit, invest and do business.

“Bringing together the Land of a Thousand Hills and the City of a Thousand Trades celebrates a shared commitment to enterprise, innovation and ambition.”

Supporters who purchased Villa’s new home shirt without a sponsor on the front can have the Visit Rwanda branding added free of charge at either the Villa Park or Bullring club stores.