Barcelona announced a new sponsorship agreement last week that will reportedly yield € 44 million for the next four years. Although that news was received positively by many Barcelona fans who hope it could help their chronic financial issues, but the deal with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo was not well received everywhere.
Because of the deal it will be Dr. Congo Tourism Board Promote the Land on the sleeve of the Barcelona shirt, with the slogan 'RD Congo – Coeur d'Arafrique' [DR Congo – Heart of Africa]. It follows similar campaigns from Rwanda and Bostwana in recent years looking for sponsors of football teams, while Monaco and AC Milan have signed similar similarities with Dr. Congo.
In the meantime, the Swedish Minister of International Development and Foreign Trade in Sweden, Benjamin Dousa, has spoken about the issue, as one of the parties that help to Dr. Congo sends.
“I want to emphasize that no Swedish cent should be spent on these priorities. Our help goes to food packages, vaccines and books. We hope that Swedish money will not be used for priorities such as the partnership with Barcelona,” Dousa was quoted by Diario as.
The article also notes that 73% of DR Congolese population is categorized as living poverty, and they rank 163rd of the 180 in the corruption index.
Apart from the potential abuse of government funds, Amnesty International has been concerned about the human rights situation in Dr. Congo, who directly clashes with Barcelona's 'more than a club' slogan, and their support from the LGBTQIA+ community, which the government is looking for criminalization. With fighting between Dr. Congo and rebel groups supported by Rwandan have also been reports of extrajudicial murders by government forces.