FC Barcelona seals deal as DR Congo's third international sports tourism sponsor

Business Insider

3 days ago

As part of the deal, all of Barça's professional teams will wear the emblem 'R.D. Congo — Cœur d'Afrique' on the back of their training kits from the 2024/25 season through to 2028/29.
The DRC will also be designated as the 'Official Empowerment Partner for Sports and Culture,' reflecting a shared vision to promote athletic development and cultural exchange.
In addition, the Spotify Camp Nou will host the 'House of the DRC,' a dedicated space that will showcase Congolese culture and serve as a hub for engagement, creativity, and visibility at one of the world's most iconic football venues.
' This agreement signifies a shared commitment to fostering multi-sport development within the DRC,' the club said in an official statement. ' The collaboration will contribute to enriching the training of the country's young athletes by transferring its ecosystem of values, an indisputable pillar of the Barça model and style.'
The sponsorship deal worth more than 40 million euros ($46.37 million) was earlier reported by Business Insider Africa in June, highlighting the DRC's broader strategy to use sports diplomacy as a tool to strengthen its global image and attract foreign investment.
With this latest agreement, the DRC continues to position itself at the intersection of sports, culture, and international diplomacy, leveraging football's global reach to promote a renewed image of the country as youthful, ambitious, and open to the world.
Barcelona-DRC deal mirrors Rwanda's tourism play with Arsenal, PSG
FC Barcelona's newly announced four-year strategic partnership with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reflects a growing trend among African nations leveraging elite global football platforms to enhance national branding and soft power.
Similar to Rwanda's high-profile ' Visit Rwanda' campaigns with Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain which placed the East African country's tourism brand prominently on the kits of top European clubs, the DRC's new 'Cœur d'Afrique' (Heart of Africa) emblem will appear on Barça's training shirts over the next four seasons.
However, these types of sponsorships have not been without controversy.
In both Rwanda and the DRC, critics have raised concerns that such high-visibility international partnerships are being pursued at the expense of more urgent domestic priorities.
In Rwanda's case, the government's ties to elite football clubs have drawn mounting criticism amid ongoing conflict in eastern DRC.
Earlier this year, Congo's Foreign Minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, called on Arsenal, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain to end what she described as ' blood-stained' sponsorships with 'Visit Rwanda,' citing the country's alleged involvement in fueling regional instability.
Now, similar scrutiny is being directed at the DRC itself. The government's deal with FC Barcelona has sparked backlash from opposition voices and civil society groups, who argue that Kinshasa is failing to address the country's long-running crises including insecurity, displacement, and poverty, while investing in global image-building initiatives.
Critics say that, just as the DRC accused Rwanda of using football sponsorships to deflect attention from conflict, the Congolese government risks doing the same by prioritizing international branding over concrete solutions to a decade-long humanitarian emergency.
Still, the partnership with Barcelona reveals a strategic ambition: to project a modern, culturally rich, and youthful image of the DRC to the world.