Uganda signs one-year Champions Hockey League deal to market tourism in Switzerland
Image by Infront
The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has signed a one-year partnership with the Champions Hockey League (CHL), using European club ice hockey to market the country to Swiss audiences throughout the 2026/27 season. The agreement, concluded by the Embassy of Uganda to the Swiss Confederation and UTB, gives Uganda nationwide visibility across Switzerland, supported by activations during the CHL season.
The partnership began with the Ugandan embassy approaching Infront, the Zug-based sports marketing agency that holds the CHL's exclusive media and marketing rights. Uganda's ambassador to Switzerland, Robert Marcel Tibaleka, described the partnership as both a tourism and diplomatic opportunity. "Sport is a powerful bridge between nations, and the passion and reach of ice hockey across Switzerland offers a compelling platform for telling Uganda's story, our wildlife, landscapes, culture and hospitality," he said.
"Switzerland is a strategic market for Uganda, and sport offers us an engaging way to reach audiences nationwide," Juliana Kagwa, Chief executive of the Uganda Tourism Board.
African Tourism Strategy
The partnership is a different approach from the increasingly common African tourism strategy of attaching a destination to a major football club. Visit Rwanda has built perhaps the most recognisable version of that model: eight years on Arsenal's sleeve, now Aston Villa's shirt front, plus Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético de Madrid. The Athletic has reported the Villa deal could be worth up to £20 million a season if performance targets are met. Those deals deliver scale, but they also put a destination into some of the world's most expensive sports properties.
Instead of buying global reach, Uganda is buying access to a specific outbound tourism market through a sport with an established following there. The CHL's territorial commercial model makes that possible. The partnership is also an example of how the CHL competition, now in its 12th season, can sell its platform beyond traditional sponsor categories. "We welcome the Uganda Tourism Board as a partner in the Swiss market for the 2026/27 season," said Fadri Holinger, the CHL's Director of Operations & Sport. He described the partnership as an example of how the competition can connect commercial partners with ice hockey audiences in specific European markets. Infront framed it in similar terms. "This partnership shows how a non-traditional sponsorship can connect a clear tourism objective with the reach and passion of ice hockey, creating value beyond conventional advertising," said Michael Witta, Senior Vice President Marketing Sales and Services at Infront.
Not an entirely new strategy for Uganda.
UTB signed a UGX200 million partnership with the Federation of Uganda Football Associations in 2019 and has used the Uganda Cranes as tourism ambassadors. What is different is the precision of the latest deal. Kagwa, who became UTB chief executive in June 2025, spent much of her career in brand marketing at Diageo, Uganda Breweries and Heineken. The CHL partnership has the feel of a consumer marketing strategy applied to destination promotion: pick the market first, then buy the property that reaches it.
If Swiss arrivals, bookings or tourism spending move in the right direction, Uganda will have a useful case for a different kind of sports tourism partnership, smaller and tied to a specific outbound market. If not, the CHL deal may remain what many sports sponsorships become: a strong visibility play with a difficult return on investment to prove.
