Arsenal has faced criticism for its ongoing partnership with Rwanda, prominently featuring the “Visit Rwanda” brand on its sleeves. While the collaboration provides visibility for Rwanda and generates around £10 million per season for Arsenal, concerns have been raised regarding human rights abuses in the African country.
Despite the controversy, financial analyst Kieran Maguire believes that Arsenal is likely to prioritise business considerations over political concerns. The partnership has financial benefits for the club, and Maguire suggests that the allure of revenue may outweigh the potential fallout from the association with a country facing criticism for human rights issues.
It’s a common dilemma for sports clubs and organizations when weighing the financial gains of partnerships against ethical considerations, and in this case, Maguire suggests that Arsenal may opt to continue the lucrative arrangement with Rwanda.
Maguire tells Football Insider:
“Arsenal will take the Jimmy Carr approach when it comes to their Visit Rwanda sponsorship – grin and bank the cheque.
“And it’s a large cheque of £10 million per season – it’s a large sum of money.
“Any diligent investigation into the rights of the people of Rwanda will raise a number of red flags.
“But Arsenal will argue that it helps to pay the wages and therefore insist that they will not get involved in politics.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Our partnership with the Rwandan government is a financially good one for us, and we will hardly drop it because of the political situation in the country.
Football has to be separated from politics and we are focused on the one that pays us the most and concerns us, which is to make money.
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