Aston Villa’s new partnership with Visit Rwanda is the latest chapter in a much longer story about sport, image, power, and politics.

In this documentary-style episode of the Play the Game Podcast, Stanis Elsborg looks at how Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has used global sport to reshape the country’s international image – from Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, and Atlético Madrid to the NBA, cycling, FIFA, and now Aston Villa.

The episode uses Aston Villa’s front-of-shirt deal with Visit Rwanda as a starting point to explore the political use of sport: how football shirts, elite clubs, international leagues, and major events can help promote tourism, investment, and national branding, while also raising questions about which stories are amplified and which are pushed aside.

You will hear from Carine Kanimba, the daughter of Paul Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the film Hotel Rwanda. Kanimba argues that Visit Rwanda is not only a tourism campaign, but a political branding project. Her testimony brings the discussion from sponsorship strategy into the lived reality of critics, political prisoners, and families who have challenged Kagame’s government.

This is a story about how sport can become part of a government’s international image – and why the meaning of a sponsorship is shaped not only by clubs and sponsors, but also by fans, critics, journalists, activists, and affected communities.

Host and narrator: Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game

This episode is produced by Play the Game.

Music: Voices by rexlambo & Lost in the ocean by Limujii