German soccer giants Bayern Munich have extended their overall tie-up with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), but significantly changed the nature of their relationship with the tourism body following criticism from fans.
The original five-year deal, unveiled in June 2023, which saw the Visit Rwanda brand gain exposure as a club partner, has now been replaced by an agreement focused on "football development in Rwanda."
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Specifically, a three-year deal entails an expansion of the FC Bayern Youth Academy in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, which has recently produced two young players who will feature for the Under-19 FC Bayern World Squad.
The original commercial deal between Bayern, who won the German Bundesliga comfortably in 2024-25, and the RDB was worth $6 million annually, as valued by GlobalData Sport. It followed a Bayern deal with Qatar Airways, which was also viewed unfavorably by the club's supporters and subsequently brought to an end.
Over the last two years, Bayern have received significant criticism from their fanbase for striking the Visit Rwanda deal. In February, a banner was unveiled at a Bayern home game in protest against the tie-up, with the United Nations at that point accusing the Rwandan government of supporting rebels (including the extremely violent M23 group) against the legitimate government of the neighboring DR Congo.
It is now anticipated that Bayern will drop the Visit Rwanda branding from most of its platforms and physical assets as part of their new deal.
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By GlobalDataOver recent years, the RDB has struck similar deals with other heavyweight European soccer groups, including with Arsenal in England, Paris Saint-Germain (the French champions), and Spain's Atletico Madrid. Those agreements have also been criticised by the respective clubs' fanbases, at times.
The tourism body began its foray into European soccer in 2018, through the deal with Arsenal.
Jan-Christian Dreesen, Bayern Munich's chief executive, said: "In constructive talks about our future direction, we agreed that a very special part of our relationship with RDB was the developmental nature of our work in Kigali through the FC Bayern Academy. We are therefore transforming our commercial partnership into a talent programme and expanding the FC Bayern Academy in Kigali together with the RDB as both a football and social initiative."
Jean-Guy Afrika, chief executive of the Rwanda Development Board, added: "This continued partnership with FC Bayern helps ensure that talent development remains anchored in our broader vision to position Rwanda as a global hub for tourism, investment, and high-performance sport.”
Rwandan officials have always publicly stated that any involvement they have in DR Congo is to protect their security interests.
Elsewhere, Bayern's chief financial officer, Michael Diederich, 59, will step down at the end of September.
Diederich, who has been a member of the Bayern supervisory board since 2018, will step down on September 30 – his contract had originally been due to run until June 30 next year.
The club has said it will "announce a successor to Michael Diederich and the future division of tasks on the board in due course."
Dreesen, and the club's board member for sport, Max Eberl, will "carry out the board's duties until further notice."
Diederich himself has said: "After two very intensive and successful years on the FC Bayern München AG board, I have decided to take on a new professional challenge … Even after the end of my activity, FC Bayern will always be the club of my heart.”
In terms of recent Bayern Munich activity, earlier this month, a deal with the Emirates Airline, running through 2031-32, was finalized.
Emirates becomes the club’s 10th platinum partner, joining Betano, Bitpanda, EA Sports, Einhell, Paulaner, Visit Rwanda, Schwarz Digits, Viessmann, and Volksbank Raiffeisenbank. Those brands sit below top-tier sponsors Adidas, front-of-shirt sponsor Deutsche Telekom (with whom a five-year extension is reportedly in the works), Audi, and Allianz.
Bayern have won the 18-team Bundesliga in 12 of the last 13 seasons and regularly reach the latter stages of the top-tier, pan-European UEFA Champions League tournament.
