Behind the acquisition of Paris FC, the Red Bull galaxy or timeshare football – Libération

2024-10-10 12:23:00

The Austrian group, which is expected to participate in the acquisition of the Parisian club in Ligue 2 today, has created a network on several continents. Raise the question of the balance between performance and maintaining one’s identity.

Wednesday 9 October, a positive day for the sporting branch of the Red Bull group. In addition to his participation, revealed by the team, in the acquisition of Paris FC for 15% in the Arnault family company, the Austrian club has announced the arrival of former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp in the role of “director of football activities” from 1 January 2025, according to reports on a sabbatical after giving so much to the Reds for nine seasons. He will oversee the network of clubs belonging to the brand, namely RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls (formerly Metrostars), RB Bragantino in Brazil and, therefore, Paris FC.

The popular, even libertarian, aura of Swabia will certainly suffer. By joining forces with Red Bull, Paris FC enters a timeshare structure. Where the centuries-old identity of the clubs concerned is erased (if it ever existed, RB Leipzig appeared out of nowhere in just a few seasons) behind a globalized network that allows the circulation of players – and more generally of skills, the technical managers – from one club to another without them actually changing employer. And the aesthetic adjustments imposed by the European Football Union when two clubs belonging to the same owner compete in the same competition (this is presumably prohibited) change nothing.

A form of modernity

The Austrian group’s strategy is based on two clear ideas. On the one hand, Red Bull clubs operate at different levels, with RB Leipzig being the highest rung of the table so far. There is a kind of continuous training, where separate teams support the same player’s career as it progresses, which raises the question of Paris FC’s place in the hierarchy. On the other hand, Red Bull is interested in young players with high potential, with the aim of creating added value and obtaining a financial shift when the element in question leaves the group to sign for a big club. Thus, the Hungarian midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool), the Blues defenders Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich) and Ibrahima Konaté (Liverpool) or the Guinean midfielder Naby Keïta (Werder Bremen after five years spent at Liverpool) made the fortune of the Red Toro after emerging from one of the group’s “incubators”, Salzburg or Leipzig, or both.

Which has a direct consequence on the play of the teams in the group: young teams (one of the Leipzig coaches, Ralf Rangnick, had even theorized the ban on fielding a player over 26 years of age) who play hard, run a lot and use elements which we don’t imagine would bother to get out of a washing machine to which they nevertheless owe their hatching. Today, both through its style of play and through a timeshare concept that is spreading everywhere, Red Bull embodies a form of modernity. It remains to be seen whether Paris FC fans will see the heads side (the performance) or the tails side (a sacrificed identity).