Arsenal are considering ending their ‘Visit Rwanda’ sleeve sponsor partnership, reportedly exploring a more lucrative alternative for the coming seasons.
Isaan Khan reports for the Daily Mail that Arsenal are considering not renewing their current sleeve sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda, which expires at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
Arsenal have had the same sleeve sponsor since 2018, initially signing on for three seasons. They then extended that partnership in 2021 until 2025.
At the time, a £10m-a-year sleeve deal was a lot of money, but the Daily Mail report suggests Arsenal could double it with the right new sponsor.
The team are now Champions League regulars again, and competing for Premier League titles (albeit without winning one). They’re clearly a lot more marketable than in 2018.
Arsenal, for their part, wouldn’t comment on the association with Visit Rwanda when approached for comment by the Mail.
But the report highlights a letter from the government of DR Congo to Arsenal’s owners, asking the Kroenkes to end the “blood-stained sponsorship deal” after an invasion of DRC territory involving Rwanda-backed rebels M23.
With the political backlash and more money to be made elsewhere, it doesn’t look like a hard decision for Arsenal to make. But it’s evidently not one that they’ve finalised just yet.