A bolt from the blue! Red Bull was announced this Wednesday by L’Equipe – information we can confirm – as a future minority shareholder of the “Arnault” version of Paris FC, up to 15%, while the family owns LVMH (which owns Le Parisien-Aujourd ‘ hui en France) should ultimately hold 85% of the capital of the Parisian club.
The Austrian company is an important economic player, present in football for 20 years now. From a sporting point of view, Red Bull presents serious guarantees based on the performances of its clubs in Leipzig and, to a lesser extent, in Salzburg. The recent appointment of Jurgen Klopp, legendary manager of Dortmund and Liverpool, as global football director of Red Bull is a further guarantee of success for the new formula of Paris FC.
Owner of the Red Bull F1 team since 2005, the producer of the famous energy drink, which is supposed to “give wings”, arrived almost at the same time as football, purchasing the SV Austria Salzburg club, the Austrian city where the group’s headquarters are located. The Austrian club abandons its identity and colors to become Red Bull Salzburg.
In 2006, Red Bull duplicated the operation by purchasing the New York Metro Stars team and transforming it into the “New York Red Bulls”.
After these tests, Red Bull attacked Germany and the Bundesliga. The company targeted Leipzig, host city of the 2006 World Cup. It initially faced rejection from fans of the small club Sachsen Leipzig, then in the 4th division. Finally, in 2009, Red Bull struck a deal for around 350,000 euros with SSV Markanstädt, an amateur club from the outskirts of Leipzig.
“RB” Leipzig was born. According to German law, in fact, it is impossible to include a trademark in the name of a club. “Red Bull” has also been appropriately transformed into “RB” (RasenballSport). In just 7 years, RB Leipzig climbed five levels to reach the Bundesliga in 2016-2017. The following season he played in the Champions League…
Big problem, during the 2017-2018 edition of the Champions League, Salzburg and Leipzig are both qualified, and a clear conflict of interest arises, due to the presence of two teams with a single owner. However, UEFA, after an investigation, validated the participation of the two clubs, after Red Bull claimed that it was no longer the owner of Salzburg, but merely a financial partner. RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg were also able to line up. The following season the two clubs even faced each other in the Europa League.
Indeed, the brand has given wings to its teams. Leipzig reached the semi-finals of the Champions League (2020) and C3 (2022). Salzburg also played half of the C3 (2018). In addition to Leipzig, Salzburg and New York, the Brazilian clubs Bragantino and FC Liefering complete the Red Bull galaxy of large and small football clubs.
Along the way, top players such as Erling Haaland, Ibrahima Konaté, Dayot Upamecano, Naby Keïta, Dayot Upamecano, Dominik Szoboszlai and Benjamin Sesko, emerged in the Red Bull environment, under the impetus in particular of the then global sporting director Ralf Rangnick, now coach of Austria. It remains to be seen whether the formula will work in France.
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