Barcelona signs a shirt sponsorship agreement with war-torn DR Congo.
Barcelona players will have “DR Congo – Heart of Africa” emblazoned on the back of their training shirts from the start of next season, after the top Spanish football team agreed on a four-year deal with the Central African country.
The partnership will reportedly cost the Democratic Republic of Congo 44m euros ($50m; £38m), although the club has not disclosed the figure it will receive.
Barcelona players will have “DR Congo – Heart of Africa” emblazoned on the back of their training shirts beginning next season, after the top Spanish football team reached a four-year agreement with the central African country.
The collaboration is expected to cost the Democratic Republic of Congo 44 million euros ($50 million; £38 million); however, the club has not announced the exact sum.
This year, a rebel group took huge sections of eastern DR Congo, despite a recent cease-fire agreement.
A rebel group has seized large parts of eastern DR Congo this year, although a ceasefire has recently been agreed.
Barcelona players will have “DR Congo – Heart of Africa” emblazoned on the back of their training shirts beginning next season, after the top Spanish football team reached a four-year agreement with the central African country.
The collaboration is expected to cost the Democratic Republic of Congo 44 million euros ($50 million; £38 million); however, the club has not announced the exact sum.
This year, a rebel group took huge sections of eastern DR Congo, despite a recent cease-fire agreement.
But the authorities have defended the agreement, saying that it will help raise the profile of the country.
As part of the deal, Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium will host what the club called an “immersive exhibition… to showcase the cultural diversity and sporting tradition” of DR Congo.
The country’s Sports Minister, Didier Budimbu, told BBC Focus on Africa that the agreement includes a training camp for 50 young Congolese players and 10 coaches.
Barcelona says it will also run camps for children across a range of sports, including basketball, handball, and roller hockey.
DR Congo has struck similar agreements with Italian club AC Milan and French club AS Monaco. Last month, Budimbu described them as part of a campaign to “reposition” the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a tourism and investment hub.
However, some believe the money should be spent in the country.
“When you talk about tourism, it should be about things to see when people come here… For me, rather than investing that money [abroad], they should invest that money to build the country first,” Muzinga Lemfu, a Kinshasa resident, told the BBC.
Another resident, Freddy Kabengele, understood the positives of the contract and said he was glad “to show DR Congo off to the world and also to bring tourists to the country.”
Since 2018, DR Congo’s regional rival Rwanda has had a sponsorship deal with English side Arsenal promoting tourism in the country with the slogan “Visit Rwanda” on the sleeves of the players’ shirts. French team Paris St-Germain and German side Bayern Munich have similar deals.
These have also come under fire, especially recently, as Rwanda has been accused of backing rebels in DR Congo in a devastating conflict in the east, which it denies.
In February, DR Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner wrote to the clubs questioning the “morality” of the arrangement.
The Rwandan government dismissed the accusations of sports-washing as a “distraction.”
Some critics of the Congolese government have expressed concern that the European deals could overshadow the fighting in the east and the authorities’ troubling human rights record.
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a peace agreement in June to put an end to decades of fighting.
South Africa’s tourism board pursued an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur in 2023, but it did not go through due to public protests.
Additional reporting by Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa.
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