finances, revenues, transfers and salaries RB Leipzig

RB Leipzig is a football club from Leipzig that was founded in May 2009. The club's first team has been playing in the Bundesliga since 2016 and plays its home games at the Red Bull Arena. In 2022, the team won the DFB-Pokal, its biggest achievement to date.

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The club was founded at the initiative of Red Bull GmbH, which aimed to create a new football project. For the 2009/10 season, RB Leipzig took over the starting rights of SSV Markranstädt in the fifth-tier Oberliga Nordost. Since the promotion of the first team to the 2. Bundesliga in 2014, the professional team and the youth teams up to U15 have been spun off into RasenBallsport Leipzig GmbH. This is 99% owned by Red Bull GmbH and 1% by the club. The close relationship between the club and Red Bull led to protests from other football clubs and fans, who spoke out against the structure of a football club supported by a large corporation.

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The fact that RB Leipzig had only a few members and was effectively controlled by Red Bull GmbH was criticized. Membership in a club is considered an important foundation for the structure and management of a club in German football. Nevertheless, RB Leipzig has successfully established itself in the Bundesliga and is now one of the top clubs in Germany.

Red Bull tried to launch a similar project in German football to improve the marketing of its product after taking over SV Austria Salzburg in Austria (now FC Red Bull Salzburg) in 2006. Red Bull contacted football clubs FC St. Pauli, TSV 1860 München, and Fortuna Düsseldorf. Red Bull demanded a majority stake in the capital company for investments in a club, into which the professional team would have to be spun off from the registered club by a members' decision (at that time, only 1860 Munich had spun off into a GmbH & Co. KGaA), as well as a change in the club name, club emblem, and club colors. As all three clubs did not accept Red Bull's demands, Red Bull attempted to make its way into Leipzig football. However, Red Bull's entry into FC Sachsen Leipzig failed due to the German Football Association (DFB), which refused approval due to naming disputes and fan protests. The DFB also feared too much influence from the investor.

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In contrast to previous failed attempts to establish itself in German football, Red Bull succeeded in taking over SSV Markranstädt and founding RB Leipzig. The club took over the starting rights of SSV Markranstädt in the Oberliga Nordost and also took over the first three men's teams and the senior team. The first team of the four oldest youth departments of the insolvent FC Sachsen Leipzig was also integrated into RB Leipzig at the request of the Saxon Football Association.

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RB Leipzig was already confronted with massive hostility before the start of the club. After taking over the playing rights from SSV Markranstädt, there were strong protests in the Leipzig suburb. Advertising banners were damaged, and the pitch was destroyed with weed killer, among other things. Fans of the football clubs FC Sachsen Leipzig and 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig feared the loss of traditional fan culture and the commercialization of football in the region due to the founding of the new club. Nevertheless, about 70% of readers supported Red Bull's engagement in a non-representative survey by the local Leipziger Volkszeitung.

Overall, the founding and development of RB Leipzig remains a controversial topic in German football. While some fear the commercialization of sports and the loss of tradition, others see positive effects on the region and German football as a whole.

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Although Red Bull GmbH owns 99% of the shares in RasenBallsport Leipzig GmbH, there are no longer any legal connections between RB Leipzig and FC Red Bull Salzburg. Since mid-2016, the professional football operations of FC Red Bull Salzburg have been outsourced to FC Red Bull Salzburg GmbH, which is not held by Red Bull GmbH and only acts as a sponsor through jersey advertising or the team's name. Nevertheless, player transfers, especially of young players, from FC Red Bull Salzburg to RB Leipzig are frequent, which has led to FC Red Bull Salzburg often being referred to as a farm team of RB Leipzig. Only rarely do players from the professional squad who have received little or no playing time or youth players who have not been promoted to the professional squad move in the opposite direction to Salzburg or to the farm team FC Liefering.

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In the winter of 2019, Tyler Adams, who was only 19 years old at the time, became the first player to be signed from the New York Red Bulls, whose shares are wholly owned by Red Bull GmbH. Jesse Marsch, a US-American and former head coach of the New York Red Bulls, was an assistant coach in Leipzig in the 2018/19 season and was the head coach of FC Red Bull Salzburg from 2019 to 2021 before returning to Leipzig as head coach for the 2021/22 season. Marco Rose was involved in the youth program of FC Red Bull Salzburg before his appointment as head coach of Leipzig from 2013 to 2017 and was the head coach of the Salzburg professional team from 2017 to 2019.

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Max Eberl, former manager of Borussia Mönchengladbach, criticized the exchange of players between Salzburg and Leipzig. Martin Hinteregger, a former center-back in Salzburg, also expressed criticism of the transfer behavior between the two locations. Interestingly, Eberl became the sporting director of RB Leipzig in December 2022 and was responsible for the 20th transfer from FC Red Bull Salzburg.

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• Name: RasenBallsport Leipzig e. V

• Seat: Leipzig, Saxony

• Founded: May 19, 2009

• Colours: red and white

• Members: 750
   

Football company:

• Name: RasenBallsport Leipzig GmbH

• Shareholders: 99% Red Bull GmbH, 1% RB Leipzig e. V. (majority of votes at e. V.)

• Management: Max Eberl (Sport), Florian Hopp (Finance), Johann Plenge (Corporate Management)

• Website: rbleipzig.com
   

First team:​

• Stadium: Red Bull Arena

• Seats: 47,069

• League: Bundesliga