Though human rights groups call it sportswashing, analysts say Formula 1’s choice of Rwanda to host its first African race since the 1990s can become a watershed moment for the continent’s sports industry — if it can deliver lasting development.
Rwanda President Paul Kagame last week announced the 10-year deal for an African Grand Prix from the early 2030s, a milestone he said that could serve as a catalyst for sports across Africa.
Besides South Africa, which has hosted World Cups in soccer, rugby and cricket — and the last F1 race on African soil in 1993 — the continent historically has been overlooked as a global sports destination.
That’s starting to change.
Rwanda last year hosted the road cycling world championships. In less than two weeks, Senegal will host the Youth Olympic Games — the first ever Olympic event in Africa. And in 2030 Morocco will co-host the men’s World Cup with Spain and Portugal.
“There are some really interesting things beginning to happen in African sport now,” said Simon Chadwick, a business management director at the African School of Economics. “Investors are showing an interest; governments are showing an interest. And what’s significant as well, I think, is that we’re actually beginning to get competition between African nations to be leaders.”
Tapping into the African market
Rwanda saw off competition from South Africa to land the F1 prize. Morocco and Nigeria were also reportedly interested.
The Grand Prix announcement made clear that F1 views Africa, with its population of more than 1.5 billion people, as an untapped market. F1 President Stefano Domenicali said there were more than 100 million F1 fans on the continent, “people who have waited a long time to see our sport return.”
Kagame said it was high time to integrate African markets with global sports franchises and competitions.
“For decades African athletes have been a pillar of the global sports economy, adding significant commercial value to top leagues, with the continent receiving almost nothing in return,” he said. “Partnerships like the one we are building help break the cycle because they serve as a catalyst for sports infrastructure development.”
Abi Ijasanmi, the CEO of African Sports Investor, called the F1 announcement “really significant” for Africa because it connects the continent to global sports and “combines things like sport and technology and tourism and investment. And the continent really needs the boost in all of those things.”
African countries considering bids to host major sporting events have been faced with one overriding criticism: That spending millions or even billions of dollars on a sports event is unwise considering the continent of mainly middle- and low-income nations has pressing concerns like a lack of housing, frail healthcare systems and widespread poverty.
Rwanda’s policy of committing money to sports to burnish its reputation comes right from the top, but it’s largely an outlier, and the majority of African nations may never have the money to host a big-time sports event. Even the government in South Africa, the biggest economy in Africa, has not made the financial guarantees to host an F1 race again, and has been mulling over the cost of a possible Olympics bid for nearly 20 years.
Learning from each other
U.S. professional sports have also started taking a greater interest in Africa. The NFL has opened an American football developmental camp in Ghana and the NBA in 2021 launched the Basketball Africa League together with FIBA, the international basketball federation. Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, has hosted five of the six finals so far.
The basketball league "made other countries sit up and appreciate what’s possible,” Ijasanmi said.
Similarly, other countries have been inspired by Morocco’s developments in soccer, by far the most popular sport in Africa, said Ijasanmi, who previously worked as chief operational officer of the Confederation of African Football.
Morocco hopes to host the 2030 World Cup final in a 115,000-capacity stadium under construction near Casablanca and has been lauded for its player development through its Mohamed VI Academy, an advanced training complex.
“It was really interesting and very positive to hear other presidents and federations sit talking about how they were going to be the next ones to do that,” Ijasanmi said. “So, it can be short-lived, but I think the more that it happens, the more it makes others look and say, ‘OK, well, this is really possible and look what it’s doing for the economy.'”
F1 announcement brings renewed human rights concerns
The F1 news wasn’t universally welcomed.
Human rights activists said it distracted from the rights abuses of Rwandan authorities.
Kagame has been accused of repressive methods to keep his grip on power, with opponents dying in prisons, independent media muzzled, and other abuses.
Amnesty International called the deal “a sportswashing prize” allowing Rwanda “to polish its image and deflect from its appalling human rights record.”
Neighboring Congo joined the criticism. Rwanda is accused by Congo, the United States and U.N. experts of backing the M23 rebels fighting in Congo.
Kagame denies the accusations of human rights abuses.
He has faced sportswashing criticism before because of Rwanda’s sponsorships of popular soccer teams like Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid, as well as the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA.
Infrastructure remains a challenge for sports in Africa
Corruption and delivery of infrastructure are potential stumbling blocks for African sports projects.
Rwanda has not yet built the F1 circuit in Bugesera, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Kigali, and will be keen to avoid the infrastructure setbacks that have plagued many other sports events, including the Africa Cup of Nations, the continental soccer championship.
Every men’s Africa Cup since 2013 has been moved because of construction delays, security problems or public health issues in the original host countries. There are concerns the next edition in 2027 could be moved from co-hosts Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda due to infrastructure projects reportedly lagging behind.
“The instability in the global markets is kind of forcing some of those countries, they’re not able to advance or proceed as fast as they want,” said Maher Mezahi, a journalist and contributing editor at Africa Is a Country.
Morocco hosted the last men's Africa Cup and the last three editions of the women’s tournament. It has invested heavily in sports infrastructure and often hosts “home” games for other African nations whose stadiums don’t meet the same standards.
Egypt also hosts international matches for other African countries. It recently built a stadium with more than 90,000 seats as part of a sports complex known as Egypt International Olympic City east of Cairo.
However, pointing to Morocco, Mezahi said grassroots initiatives, rather than showcase stadiums, can be a more significant factor in developing sports in Africa.
“The reason why they’ve had success producing talent instead of just hosting events is because they built thousands of what they call ‘proximity pitches’ … artificial turf, small pitch, five-a-side, and it’s really open to the public. It’s really just take your ball and go and play,” Mezahi told The AP from Algiers.
An acid test for sports in Africa
It is too early to tell whether Rwanda’s F1 race will be a game changer for sports in Africa, but it was met with optimism far beyond Kigali.
South Africa Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie pointed to Rwanda as an inspiration and said there’s room for more than one grand prix on the continent, noting that a single European country like Italy has two.
All eyes are now on Rwanda to see how it follows up with the racetrack construction and other infrastructure needed to make the African Grand Prix a lasting success.
“In some ways the F1 grand prix is almost like an acid test,” Chadwick said. “Does Rwanda have what it takes? Or is it going to fall foul of what has beset African sport before?
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