Arsenal to build three pitches in Rwanda as Visit Rwanda deal leaves an infrastructure legacy
Arsenal will fund the construction of three football pitches in Rwanda, converting the tail end of its eight-year Visit Rwanda shirt deal into physical infrastructure even after the commercial partnership expired in June, according to the New Times Rwanda.
The project, valued at about US$250,000 (roughly Rwf368.5 million), is one of several legacy commitments Rwanda expects to retain from the arrangement, alongside capacity-building and skills-development programmes rolled out over the life of the deal. The Visit Rwanda logo appeared on the shirt sleeves of the Premier League champions for eight seasons.
Image by Huy Phan
Sports Minister Nelly Mukazayire disclosed the plan, framing it within a wider government push to build out sports infrastructure and develop young talent through partnerships with major international clubs and leagues.
"Though the deal with Arsenal has come to an end, they are going to build football pitches in the country. We are currently identifying suitable locations where there is the greatest need. This is a huge opportunity for us," she said.
Mukazayire did not put a number on how many further facilities could come through Rwanda's other Visit Rwanda partnerships, but said Atlético de Madrid and the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers are also expected to contribute to sports infrastructure in the country - a signal that Kigali intends to extract development dividends from each of its sponsorship relationships.
According to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the Arsenal partnership produced an annual Rwanda Heritage Day at Emirates Stadium and a rotation of club ambassador visits. Former England international Alex Scott was the first to travel to Rwanda after the deal launched, followed by David Luiz in 2019 and by Gilberto Silva, Robert Pirès and Jurriën Timber in 2023.
Visit Rwanda also secured exposure across Arsenal's matchday LED boards, interview backdrops, digital channels and the Emirates itself, a venue the RDB says draws more than 250,000 visitors a year.
The board attributes a 47 percent rise in tourism revenue over the partnership period in part to the campaign. International arrivals reached 1.3 million in 2024, generating US$650 million (about Rwf941 billion) in tourism receipts.
Rwanda has built the most deliberate destination-marketing playbook in African sport.
Arsenal pitches show how the final act of one of these deals is designed to work. Converting the closing tranche of a sponsorship into three pitches lets the government book a tangible, photographable legacy asset - and keeps the relationship alive for renewal conversations after the branding comes off the kit.
Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Aston Villa, Bayern Munich, Atlético de Madrid and the LA Clippers give Rwanda a portfolio of properties spanning European football and the NBA, each expected to leave behind infrastructure rather than just impressions. That diversification is the point: no single deal has to carry the tourism narrative alone, and each new partner adds a distribution channel into a different fan market.
The 47 percent revenue figure will keep drawing scrutiny - attribution in destination marketing is notoriously hard to isolate from visa reforms, air connectivity and post-pandemic recovery, but for Kigali the sponsorships were never only about direct ROI. They were about positioning a small economy inside the world's most-watched sports properties. On that measure, the pitches are the part of the strategy that outlasts the metrics.
