Nicknamed the Die Roten Bullen (The Red Bulls), RB Leipzig was founded in 2009 with the sole intention of getting the club into the German Bundesliga within a decade. The club founders and management achieved this feat in only eight seasons.
The Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of the sports drink Red Bull, wanted an investment in German football. After three and a half years, he decided to form a club in Leipzig that had a population of 500,000 people.
Red Bull acquired the rights to fifth-tier side SSV Markranstädt and incorporated it into the Red Bull GmbH. [1] However, due to German soccer’s stringent regulations on sponsorships and foreign investments, the club had to be rebranded as RasenBallsport Leipzig.
The City Leipzig
In addition to hosting the first German national football champions, VfB Leipzig, the city had a rich history in football. [4]
There had been no team from the city playing in the Bundesliga since 1994, and no team had been playing in a professional league since 1998. [7] A fan violence plagued local football, and the city hungered for top-level competition. [2]
A lack of German Bundesliga clubs nearby further enhanced the possibility of attracting sponsors and fans.
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Thanks to Red Bull’s investment, RB Leipzig tore through the divisions, reaching the promised land of the Bundesliga ahead of the 2016-17 season. Wildly unpopular due to their unconventional route to success, RB Leipzig has been labeled “Most Hated Club In Germany.”
In their maiden season of the first division soccer, the “Red Bulls” stunned everybody with their progressive style of play, culminating in an unprecedented second-place finish.
RB Leipzig First Ever Match
The first match for RB Leipzig was on 10 July 2009, a friendly against Landesliga side SV Bannewitz. [5] The opening of their football stadium (Red Bull Arena) was celebrated on 24 July 2010 with a friendly match against FC Schalke. [3] Building this stadium was a good investment as they started to average over 40,000 spectators at their home matches.
Since being promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016, the lowest position they have finished the season is 6th spot. They have been runners-up to Bayern Munich twice in the 2016-2017 and 2020-2021 seasons. RB Leipzig won the DFB-Pokal Cup in 2022 for the first time and was a semi-finalist in the UEFA Champions League in 2020.
The 2019-20 Bundesliga season has been one of the most exciting campaigns in recent memory. Four teams are fighting for supremacy in Germany’s top flight, and one of those was RB Leipzig FC.
RB Leipzig Infusion Of Fresh Blood
Playing in traditional red and white colors, RB Leipzig had stagnated in its two previous campaigns and was currently thriving under the stewardship of Julian Nagelsmann. The 32-year-old coach’s progressive, high-pressing system has breathed new life into the players—and one in particular, Timo Werner.
During RB Leipzig’s debut season in the German Bundesliga, Werner burst onto the scene, but he struggled a bit in the past two years and averaged a goal every 250 minutes. Under Nagelsmann’s system, however, the 23-year-old is reinvigorated—he has scored 28 goals (averaging a goal every 80 minutes)!
Only Robert Lewandowski managed to keep up with Timo Wener finishing with 34 goals.
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Werner recently signed a new deal with RB Leipzig, but that hasn’t stopped the media from linking him to potentially making a big-money move to either Liverpool or Bayern. It’s safe to say his recent performances have made him one of the most sought-after prospects in Europe. He eventually did move to Chelsea in 2020 for 50 million euros.
As that move did not work out, the German international has moved back to RB Leipzig and is a Die Roten Bullen fans favourite. In the final part of the season, the team lost momentum and ran out of steam to finish in third position behind Munich and Dortmund.
RB Leipzig Fans
Without fans, a football club would not exist. Each match, whether at the Red Bull Arena or away, the RB Leipzig players have an army of red-and-white supporters behind them. The RB Leipzig fan base has been growing since the team was founded.
The RB Leipzig fans are organized into official fan clubs (OFCs). Our OFC members are among our most loyal and dedicated supporters and contribute significantly to the atmosphere in the fan blocks. Tifos are also constructed by them.
The logos of some fan groups of RB Leipzig omit Red Bull’s logo.
The feeling of disenfranchisement is felt by almost every major club’s fans, ultras or not. There is only one difference: Leipzig’s fans have only recently been introduced to it.
Fans have been unable to keep up with the team’s rapid rise.
Club Honours
Domestic Leagues
2009–10: NOFV-Oberliga Süd (V) Champions
2012–13: Regionalliga Nordost (IV) Champions
2013–14: 3. Liga (III) Runners-up
2015–16: 2. Bundesliga (II)Runners-up
2016–17 and 2020–21: Bundesliga Runners-up
DFB-Pokal
2021–22: Winners
2018–19 and 2020–21: Runners-up
DFL-Supercup
2022: Runners-up
Saxony Cup
2010–11 and 2012–13: Winners
2019–20: UEFA Champions League Semi-finalists
2021–22: UEFA Europa League Semi-finalists [6]
References:
[1], [2], and [3]: https://betsapi.com/t/823/RB-Leipzig
[4], [5], and [6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RB_Leipzig
[7]: https://alchetron.com/RB-Leipzig
Images:
Getty Images (main image)
H Bratic / AFP
Odd Andersen / AFP
Karina Hessland/Bongarts/Getty Images
