Like him or not, there is no doubt that New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s passion for certain issues is electric, and that passion played a large part in him getting elected. But today, two of his biggest passions are on a collision course. On one hand, Mamdani is now arguably the US’s most high-profile supporter of English Premier League champions Arsenal.
A superfan since he was a child, he has put the Gunners into the American spotlight more than anyone since becoming mayor. The Empire State Building gleamed in Arsenal’s red and white when they won the Premier League title. He wrote an essay about what Arsenal’s championship means to him, talks about Arsenal at press conferences and interviews and inaugurated Thierry Henry Way near Times Square in honor of the Arsenal legend.
But another of Mamdani’s passions – standing up against genocide and for human rights – is now presenting a problem for the mayor’s Arsenal fandom. One prominent part of Arsenal’s current image is deeply disturbing, and it presents a major opportunity for Mamdani. Arsenal’s chief sponsor is Emirates Airlines, owned by the Emirates Group, a state-owned Dubai-based holding company.
Emirates is on the front of every jersey, and the team plays at Emirates Stadium in London. The United Arab Emirates has spent more than $1bn sponsoring the team, including expanding its contract through 2033 to more than $100m per season. Arsenal is the UAE’s second biggest sports investment globally.
The trouble is the UAE is also sponsoring a genocidal militia in Sudan, where war has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 14 million people, or a quarter of the country’s population, forced to flee their homes, and 21 million people facing acute hunger. The UAE has provided the militia, known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with weapons and killer drones, according to numerous investigations. In fact, the UAE is the RSF’s biggest supplier of weapons and drones.
And therein lies the rub. The UAE is engaging in one of the world’s largest sportswashing campaigns in an attempt to clean up its image, including with Mamdani’s beloved Arsenal. The UAE’s sportswashing isn’t limited to the Gunners.
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