Why Red Bull build a football club competing in the #UCL from scratch!

[THREAD]

The year is 2020, RB Leipzig made it to its first ever UCL Quarter final against PSG after being Founded only 11 years prior. How did they climb the ranks of German and European football that fast?

The idea to start an Red Bull club in Germany first arose in 2006 with initial plans to invest in a different leipzig side: FC Sachsen Leipzig. These plans were eventually rejected by the DFB. After that Red bull looked to invest in numerous other teams ranging from..

.. St Pauli to 1860 Munich to Fortuna Dusseldorf. When the fans heard about the news that Red Bull was interested in investing in the clubs protest broke out. As a result Red Bull reverted back to the Original plan to acquire a Leipzig based team.

Before we go to why Red Bull wanted to acquire an leipzig based team we will be looking at the football landscape in the city. The Historical football landscape in Leipzig is complicated, many clubs were formed and disbanded since 1900.

The N*zi regime and The Communist regime as well as the Reunification had led to varying league formats. The club in Leipzig that enjoyed the most succes was FC Lokomotiv Leipzig, now playing in the Regionalliga. Lokomotiv played an Europa Cup II Final against Ajax in 1987.

Lokomotiv got rebranded to VFB Leipzig and relegated in 1994 from the Bundesliga putting an end to Leipzig representation in the topflight. The city got represented again in 2016 when RB Leipzig got promoted to the bundesliga.

Many supporters felt estranged when Red Bull acquired Austrian top flight team SV Austria Salzburg in 2005 and changed the name to Red Bull Salzburg + the badge + the staff + the colors.

After years of research Red Bull felt that it was better to start from scratch and work their way up.
And so they did, they bought the licence of SSV Markranstadt and began its journey to the top flight of german football.

They reached the 3. Liga in 2013 and promoted the year after straight to the 2. Bundesliga in 2016 the club where promoted to the Bundesliga there for becomming the first club based in the formally DDR who were playing in the Bundesliga since 2009 when Cottbus got relegated.

and the first team since 22 years who represented Leipzig in the top flight.

That created some Market Opportunities:

- Its good for the city and the eastern part of germany stated Guido Schafer who is the chief reporter for the Leipziger Volkszeitung

- The City loves leipzig, (apart from the 2 Traditional clubs) and they know worthwhile it is to have the club representing the city.

- The Fanbase is growing nearly every match is sold out

But not everyone loves Red Bull as much as the citizens of Leipzig.

Many rivals feel that RBL is exploiting the 50+1 rule. Only 17 members have voting rights. Red Bull got around a law that is stating that a club must not be named after sponsors. RB got around that law pretty easily by naming..

..the club RasenBallsport Leipzig which translates to LawnBallsport Leipzig.

RB Leipzig are often revered to as the most hated team in germany and still face protest against them regularly.

One of the guys behind the succes of RB Leipzig is Ralf Rangnick. After Rangnick became sporting director of both RB leipzig and RB Salzburg promotions followed. When Rangnick arrived at the club he brought in his phylosophy and younger.

Since that day everything at RB happens because of his phylosophy. Rangnick has managed leipzig twice when leipzig were between managers.

What does Red Bull gain from the club?

Of course brandawareness is a major part for redbull but its not the only thing. Red Bull is benefitting enormously from their sport franchise and since the Energie drink market is becomming tougher..

.. because of regulations. Red Bull is looking for alternative ways to get income. Thats why they established them selfs in the sports market. Red Bull has mastered the arts of marketing and have set the benchmark for other companies.

Thanks for reading my thread! Really appreciate it that you have come so far!

Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51475532

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RB_Leipzig 

If you have any commends about the thread please let me know!