RB Leipzig (Germany)

RasenBallsport Leipzig eV, or RB Leipzig as they are more commonly known, is a professional club from the former East German city of the same name that was formed in controversial circumstances on the 19th May 2009.

Entrepreneur Michael Kölmel, the owner of the Zentralstadion, needed a regular club to play at his venue. Energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull was looking for another club to join Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Brasil in their portfolio.

Red Bull had initially looked into such a development in 2006 by purchasing FC Sachsen Leipzig. After months of fan protests, which deteriorated into violence, the company abandoned the plan. A deal was struck, with the Leipzig outfit purchasing the playing license of the top four men’s teams at nearby SSV Markranstädt. 

Weed killer was thrown on the pitch at Stadion am Bad and advertising boards were vandalised in protest, but things never got too far out of hand. Markranstädt rebuilt and began again through regional football, happy with the deal. The new club hit a snag, as the DFB German FA, refused sponsorship names in a club title. 

To get around this, RasenBallsport was chosen because it is often shortened to RB. Zentralstadion became the Red Bull Arena through sponsorship. Once registered, RB purchased four youth teams from the then-insolvent FC Sachsen Leipzig, with encouragement from the Saxon Football Association (SFV). The move allowed Sachsen to rebuild. 

Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull GmbH, spoke of playing in the Bundesliga within eight years and eventually becoming the first club from the city to lift the German title since VfB Leipzig in 1913. RB were placed in the fifth-tier NOFV-Oberliga Süd for the 2009-10 season with former SSV Markranstädt coach Tino Vogel in charge of the team. 

The team lifted the title, but Vogel was replaced for the following season by Tomas Oral. Chemnitzer FC were defeated in the final of the Sachsenpokal, but the board still made another chief trainer change, with Peter Pacult arriving.

The Regionalliga Nordost was won in 2012-13 along with the Sachsenpokal as Chemnitzer were seen off once again in the Red Bull Arena, this time under yet another new trainer, Alexander Zorniger. Starting the 2013-14 season in 3. Liga, several new players arrived at the club. 

Momentum continued, and the crowds grew, drawn in by the prospect of yet another promotion. RB finished as runners-up and won automatic promotion following a 5-1 victory over FC Saarbrucken in front of a sell-out home crowd of 42,713. At this point, the German Football League had become the authority that dealt with club licenses. 

Initially, they refused to allocate one to RB to participate in 2. Bundesliga. Eventually, a compromise was met, but RB had to redesign their club badge as it was too close to the Red Bull logo, make the club more community-based rather than company-based and to make membership more accessible.

RB Leipzig ended the 2014-15 season in fifth place, despite the sacking of Zorniger in February. The new trainer was the former head of youth, Achim Beierlorzer. He stepped back into his previous role at the end of the season. The new man for the 2015-16 season was announced as the former FC Schalke coach and Red Bull Salzburg Sporting Director Ralf Rangnick. 

He led the team to promotion as runners-up, with Davie Selke finishing as top scorer. Ralph Hasenhüttl took over as chief trainer with Rangnick overseeing as sporting director, as Leipzig put in a tremendous performance to finish as Bundesliga runners-up. 

Timo Werner supplied the goals while keeper Péter Gulácsi also impressed throughout. The following season saw a run to the last eight of the Europa League after being transferred from the Champions League, before going out to Olympique Marseille. Domestically, the team weighed in with sixth place.

Rangnick replaced Hasenhüttl for the 2018-19 season, in which RBL finished in third place, with Yussuf Poulsen adding to the continued goals of Werner. The club also reached their first-ever DFB-Pokal final, where the team went down 3-0 to Bayern München.

The 2019-20 season saw the team finish in third place. After winning their Champions League group, Leipzig defeated Tottenham Hotspur to reach the quarter-finals, where Atlético Madrid were beaten. The dream ended in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain. 2020-21 saw RB reach the final of the DFB-Pokal, which ended in a 4-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.

By now chief trainer at the club was Julian Nagelsmann as the side ended as Bundesliga runners-up. Trainer, Domenico Tedesco, led RB Leipzig to its first major honour in 2021-22. SC Freiburg were defeated on penalties in the final of the DFB-Pokal, while the team also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League before going out to Rangers.

The goals of Christopher Nkunku had been the catalyst in the successful campaign, which was backed up in 2022-23 when the Pokal was retained. Eintracht Frankfurt were defeated 2-0 as Dominik Szoboszlai and Nkunku got on the scoresheet under new trainer Marco Rose, as the club continued to try and win the elusive Bundesliga title.

Loïs Openda became the fans' favourite in front of goal in 2023-24 as the side only mustered a seventh-place finish the following season after regularly qualifying for the Champions League. That was under the latest trainer, Zsolt Löw, who was replaced by Ole Werner.

RB Leipzig will play in the Bundesliga in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Germany 2 Georgia 1 (Sunday 11th October 2015) European Championship Qualifier (att: 43,630)

The highlight of my weekend in Berlin and Leipzig was always going to be the international at the Red Bull Arena. I’d seen cup football at SV Lichtenberg 47 and SSV Markranstädt, over the two days, as well as visiting five historic clubs and stadiums. It had been a fantastic time.

With the game not kicking off until 8.45pm, it meant it would be a long day. Markranstädt, as a town, had been a complete let-down. I was rather hoping I’d find a nice bar with food to relax after the match, but if truth be told, I was glad to be heading back to Leipzig. 

I should have probably got out before the Arena and found a local bar, but I wanted to catch the daylight for some photography. I jumped off the tram at Angerbrücke so that I could take a snap of the arena across the Elsterbecken River, before walking over the Festwiese. 

This square, massive area with banking all around, had a capacity of 75,000 and was used for a fairground and concerts. The tall bell tower at the far end stood between the area and the stadium. One could imagine in the past it had been used for many things, some of which would have been dark history.

As I got up to the far end, I had a look at the various sponsors’ stalls for fans. Match programmes were in a large pile and seemed to be free, even though they had €1 on the cover. I decided to have a look down the main side, where the old steps, monuments and brickwork were still in place. Plenty of fans stood near the VIP entrance, hoping to get a glimpse of their heroes.

Facilities were in each corner outside the stadium. With time to kill, I walked a full lap around the perimeter. There wasn’t an awful lot to see. When I got back to my starting point, I plumped for a beer and bratwurst. A young lady was taking snaps of the growing traffic from the raised concourse, and we got chatting.

Susanne worked at the stadium. Her top-level camera seemed to be doing her a fine job, and she really was a good seller of her home city. I was commended on my limited German, which I think was more out of politeness. In yet another country, the locals could speak perfect English. How I wish I’d learned languages at school.

After another beer, I decided to go inside and have a proper look. Red Bull Arena had been built inside the shell of the old Zentralstadion to keep the history. The old place held 120,000 fans at its peak, so there was plenty of room.

The layout meant a climb to the top of the original banking, before descending down the old terracing. It really was knee-breaking work up and down an awful lot of steps, but I was glad that they’d preserved the history. My ticket was high up in a corner, so I had to climb another set of steps! My first impression when I saw the layout was “Wow”. 

It really was impressive. There was no running track, so seating was close to the pitch. The lower tier was a complete circuit, with a large concourse behind. Both sides had upper tiers in a banana shape design, not dissimilar to the Huddersfield Town stadium, only bigger. Small roofs covered each end. Floodlights were built into the roof steelwork.

Eventually, I found my seat after sitting in the correct number, but in the wrong block! The backs of the seats were high and comfortable. The acoustics of the stadium kept the noise inside. I had a tremendous view.

The game looked like it would be an easy win for Germany, but the Georgians were made of stern stuff. The hosts were looking to bounce back after a 1-0 defeat in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland the previous Thursday.

Visiting keeper Nukri Revishvili pulled off a great stop from Thomas Müller in the first few minutes. An even better save came from a Marco Reus effort. Chances kept coming, with the score remaining blank thanks to a mixture of fine defending, goalkeeping and woeful finishing.

Manuel Neuer’s reflex save from Tornike Okriashvili’s shot on the half hour prevented a shock opening goal. The sides went down the tunnel for half-time with the score still blank. At this point, I decided to take advantage of a regular feature at German stadiums. 

Nearly all seating areas have some flat standing at the rear, and the stewards don’t stop you from watching from there. Because I had no time to hang around at full time, I decided to stand at the back behind the far goal, which was nearer to the station at full time.

After walking all the way around the concourses, I found a spot. People were standing two or three deep, but I could still see. The move was also wise as the temperatures were beginning to plummet. Keeping warm by exercising and stretching was a lot easier than when sitting down.

At last, Germany took the lead in the 50th minute as Müller scored from the penalty spot. The goal awoke the visitors. They began to take the game to the world champions. After a few near misses and stops by Neuer, a tremendous twenty-yard volley from Jaba Kankava left the keeper motionless.

I was doing my very best not to burst out laughing. The locals were not massively amused. Neuer pulled off a couple more world-class saves to keep his side level. The German defence was made to look like statues at times as the enterprising Georgia team could smell blood. The whistles and jeers were getting louder all the time.

André Schürrle was replaced by Max Kruse. The sub finished off a quality move with a fine low shot to win the game and break hearts all over the world. It transpired post-match that if Georgia had snatched a win and Ireland had scored in Warsaw, the world champions would have been dumped into the play-offs.

At full time, I was up the steps and down the other side. I decided on Susanne’s confirmation to walk back to the station. I had just under thirty minutes to complete the 2.5 km. I cut through the coach park and down Wettiner Straße to beat the crowds. After turning into Waldstraße, I came across the Feuerbachstraße tram stop. The timetable indicated a tram was due.

Sure enough, I was soon aboard. Just a few yards down the road, we passed a pub with Sky. Just what I wanted before the game, but never mind. The tram dropped me outside the Hauptbahnhof with time to kill. My train was coming from Munich. I managed to find a single unreserved seat and fell asleep for the ride, which took an hour.

I woke up at what looked like a big station. I nearly jumped out, but that would have been a big mistake. We were only at Südkreuz!  Ten minutes later, we arrived at the main Hauptbahnhof. I got myself a magnificent kebab at one of the stands near my hotel and went to bed.

It was a brilliant day out. The next morning, I took a direct train to Schoenefeld Airport for my flight to Luton in time for my Monday afternoon shift and reflected on how wisely I'd again spent my spare time.