Most people who watch sport had barely given Rwanda a second thought until recently. The sponsorship deals the country's tourist board has with Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain were fairly low- key and, for many, quickly became just another logo. Mohamed Keita sees real danger in that.

"People have become so used so seeing 'Visit Rwanda' that they don't even see it anymore – it's like McDonald's. Nobody thinks about what 'Visit Rwanda' is, what's behind it."

For Keita, the Africa director at the non-profit Human Rights Foundation, the discourse over the clubs' Rwanda deals, sparked by a letter from the foreign minister of neighboring DR Congo, has finally shone a little more light on the dire situation in the east African country.

"I think the vast majority of Rwandans live under political and economic marginalization. They do not enjoy fundamental human rights. The majority of population lives in poverty," he told DW.

"The human rights situation is very dire. This is the country where critics of the government are routinely jailed, suffer extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances. It's a police state, so the people live in constant fear, under surveillance. There's no ability to speak freely."

Kagame's push for sports 

Paul Kagame has been president of Rwanda for 25 years and essentially ran the country for the six years before that after the genocide in 1994. He routinely wins over 99% of the vote in elections. In recent years, Kagame has started investing increasingly heavily in sport. Rwanda has developed close ties with basketball's NBA, is hosting the cycling world championships in September and, appears close to securing a Formula 1 Grand Prix, which would be the first in Africa since 1993.

Kagame claimed last year, that Rwanda was "approaching this (F1) opportunity with the seriousness and commitment it deserves" and his government claims that the 'Visit Rwanda' sponsorships have had a positive impact on the country's tourism industry. But not everyone sees it that way.

"He's doing this self-serving narrative where he portrays himself as this generous patron of sports, this magnanimous leader and this pioneering figure in Africa," investigative journalist Karim Zidan told DW.

"Kagame is trying to position himself as not just a legitimate leader abroad, but a legitimate leader for Africa and all Africans as well." 

The allure of sport for dictators like Kagame is clear, it brings a healthy image, glamor, celebrity endorsements and, most importantly, a turn on the microphone on the world stage.

"I think that's the ambition. It's been building it up for a while. There's a genuine intention by a lot of people to build up professional sports in Africa to make it a lucrative industry. At events like the UN General Assembly, Kagame was always the guest of honor, the keynote speaker - he's the example for everyone," said Keita

That ability to manipulate international image and use sport to improve access to the places where power is held doesn't always work though. "A  ot of academics and researchers would argue Qatar lost international political capital from hosting the (2022) Men's World Cup because there were so many things they were challenged on, there was so much scrutiny. We call that soft disempowerment. You looked for soft power in a positive way, but actually it had a negative disempowering effect, so you're in a deficit," Verity Postlethwaite, a Lecturer in Strategic Event Management at the sports-focused Loughborough University in England, told DW   

Events draw biggest engagement

Postlethwaite adds that shirt sponsorships, advertising hoardings and the other contractual obligations included in the kinds of deals struck by Rwanda with Bayern, PSG, City and the NBA do tend to have only a minor effect on public perception – unlike hosting a major international sporting event like a World Cup or Olympic Games.

"Research probably shows mostly that fans or the general public are only really engaged through events being hosted in a particular place."

So then, what's in it for the clubs? Bayern are thought to make about €5 million ($5.19 million) a year for their partnership with Rwanda, a minor amount for a club who reportedly pay English striker Harry Kane €500,000 a week.

Bayern insist they want to help the development of football in the country but their CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen admitted to DW this week that he has sent two staff members to Rwanda and they would "take everything into consideration and discuss the next steps."

Given the Rwanda deal replaced a similarly controversial one with Qatar, it's difficult, on face value, to see that the financial boost makes up for the possibility of bad PR.

"That's the kind of cultural sway and soft power these clubs have. It doesn't surprise me to an extent that a club like Bayern Munich would want to continue to extend that kind of soft power by building relationships inside Africa. Rwanda would have been a big, big get in terms of the countries available at the time," said Zidan.

"You want to grow your audience, you want to grow your reach. You want to present yourself as a likable team to these countries as well. The club get to make money in the process, even if it's small fry. But they also get to grow their reach, and somebody else is paying for the promotional value of it."

International image the key

Unlike Saudi Arabia or Qatar, Rwanda is not backed by vast wealth and, Keita said, none of this sporting push is for the Rwandan public. 

"They're just trying to change minds internationally. It's not about Rwandans, it's really about the international community and the image. You know, this is a government that goes to extreme length to protect its image and to propagate a certain narrative.

"I think the difference with Saudi Arabia is that Rwanda cares deeply about curating its image and is extremely sensitive to criticism. They receive so much bad press over all the human rights abuses, so they seek to counter that through sports."

For the Kagame and his government, interest in hosting sporting events is a legitimate part of their strategy.

Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said in 2024 that hosting an F1 race would allow the country to move "from being a consumer of sport to a participant in the business of sports" and that such events would "drive forward Rwanda's development." Rwanda's sports ministry was unable to grant an interview or provide a statement to DW for this article. 

The question, for most observers, is who would benefit from that business. Zidan suspects Kagame will get what he wants.

"I don't even think a Formula 1 race is as far as the ambitions go, I think they start going bigger and start looking for FIFA events, and they start, maybe one day, even going for an Olympic Games. Whether it's possible, whether they can actually finance such events is a different story. But his ambitions know no bounds."

Edited by: Chuck Penfold