A coalition of human rights organisations and Sudanese activists launched the Blood on the Ball campaign this week, urging the National Basketball Association (NBA) to suspend its commercial deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over Abu Dhabi’s alleged military support for a militia accused of genocide in Sudan.
The campaign, running through the NBA Finals, is led by The Sentry, an anti-war crimes investigative organisation co-founded by John Prendergast and George Clooney, alongside Refugees International. It targets what campaigners describe as a stark contradiction between the NBA’s public commitment to social justice and its active branding relationship with the UAE.
According to The Sentry’s latest report, the UAE has emerged as the principal external backer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia the United Nations (UN) says has carried out acts bearing the hallmarks of genocide in Sudan. The civil war has displaced more than 12 million people and entered its fourth year.
The UAE has spent over $4.5 billion on sportswashing globally, with more than $300 million linked to NBA partnerships, branding and the Emirates NBA Cup, channelled through state-linked entities including Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways and DP World.
On April 27, 2026, United States Representatives James P. McGovern and Christopher H. Smith, bipartisan co-chairs of the Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, wrote to the NBA and three other major corporations warning that UAE-linked partnerships risk “enabling or obscuring human rights violations.”
“The NBA’s partnership with the UAE is a reputational liability,” said Daniel P. Sullivan of Refugees International.
Campaigners cite recent precedents where public pressure reshaped sports partnerships, including Chelsea F.C.’s sale following sanctions on owner Roman Abramovich and both FC Bayern Munich and Arsenal F.C. ending Visit Rwanda sponsorship deals over atrocities in eastern Congo.
The campaign calls on the NBA to suspend its UAE brand sponsorship until the Gulf state halts all military support for the RSF.
