Aston Villa chief defends sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda

Business chief Francesco Calvo has defended Villa’s sponsorship deal with Visit Rwanda claiming it can be a force for good.

Villa reached an agreement worth nearly £20million-a-year for the African country’s tourist board to become their front-of-shirt sponsor earlier this week.

Yet it has drawn criticism, with Amnesty International warning the deal would be used by Rwanda to sportswash its poor human rights record.

Calvo, the club’s president of business operations who negotiated the deal on Villa’s behalf, rejected the criticism and suggested the partnership would help “inspire” the people of Rwanda and develop football in the region.

He said: “In terms of geopolitics, I don't believe it's the place of football clubs to opine on these serious issues.

“We have a responsibility to our fans and our communities to be true to our values, but not to weigh in on issues much more serious than football which we are not experts in.

“We want to help develop sporting, economic and tourism opportunities for Rwandan people. That is the basis of this partnership."

Villa, previously sponsored by Betano, were left with no option but to seek a new sponsor due to new Premier League rules around gambling firms.

Calvo, who replaced Chris Heck as president of business last year, conceded it had been a “difficult” market but believes Villa are the only club to have increased the value of their sponsorship deal, with the new agreement the most lucrative in their history. A deal with a new sleeve sponsor is also believed to be imminent.

Visit Rwanda’s previous and existing deals with the likes of Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have been the subject of fan protests.

The UN has accused the Rwandan government of backing the M23 military rebels in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Villa are understood to have carried out their own background checks and though the club received offers of similar value from elsewhere, Calvo believes the Rwanda deal offered the best long-term benefits.

He said: “We believe that this partnership will open doors to increase our audience in Africa.

“We can say that it is Rwanda, but it is Africa. Definitely, Aston Villa will be seen in a different way in Africa.

“I am hearing people and experts talking about sub-Saharan Africa being where there will be a huge fan base, the economy will grow and there will be investments into football.

“We believe this will put us in a position to capitalise on that. We do see it as a chance to fulfil our mission, to generate money but also develop the sport.

Clearly, representing a country is different to a commercial entity - and this give us different responsibilities, which gives us a privilege but also a commitment.

“In the end, when you look for a partner, you look at the money, the prestige of the brand and the marketing initiatives that we can activate. We achieved all those three objectives.”