Villa warned over sportswashing after Visit Rwanda deal

Aston Villa received a warning over what Amnesty International UK calls “sportswashing” tied to a new sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda. The Premier League club will replace Betano on the front of shirts for the men’s, women’s and academy teams under a multi-year agreement worth £20 million per year, which Villa described as the club’s most important sponsorship deal in its history. Amnesty campaign head Felix Jakens said the partnership could be used to create positive publicity that diverts attention from Rwanda’s human-rights record, including alleged arbitrary detention, torture and repression of free speech. The warning comes as the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken Rwanda to the International Court of Justice, accusing it of treaty breaches after the 1994 genocide. Rwanda denies supporting rebel groups in the region, though UN experts and Western governments have cited support for the M23 in eastern Congo. Villa and the Premier League have been urged to respond.