FC Red Bull Salzburg

FC RB Salzburg was founded on 13 September 1933 as SV Austria Salzburg, after the merger of the city's two clubs, Hertha and Rapid.[2] In 1950, the club was dissolved but re-founded later the same year. It reached the Austrian top flight in 1953, and finished 9th of 14 clubs in its first season there, avoiding relegation by five points.[3]

Vienna-born Erich Probst was Salzburg's first-ever international, earning the last of his 19 Austrian caps on 27 March 1960.[4] Adolf Macek, who made the first of his four international appearances on 9 October 1965, was the club's first local player to earn a cap for Austria.[5]

Salzburg were top-flight runners-up for the first time in the 1970–71 season, gaining 43 points to Wacker Innsbruck's 44.[6] The club's first-ever European campaign was in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup, and it was eliminated 5–4 on aggregate by Romanian club UTA despite a 3–1 home victory in the second leg. In 1974, Salzburg reached the Austrian Cup final for the first time, losing 2–1 away to Austria Wien in the first leg before a 1–1 home draw in the second.[7]

Salzburg moved to their current stadium, now known as the Red Bull Arena in 2003.

In 1978, the club's official name was changed to SV Casino Salzburg and in 1997, to SV Wüstenrot Salzburg, due to a sponsorship deal with an Austrian financial services corporation. The team often remained referred to as SV Austria Salzburg.

Salzburg reached their first and so far only European final, the 1994 UEFA Cup final, where they lost both legs 1–0 to Inter Milan.[8] That same season, Salzburg won their first Bundesliga title, beating Austria Wien by 51 points to 49.[9] The title was retained the following season as Salzburg beat Sturm Graz on goal difference.[10] The 1995–96 season saw a drop to eighth place, one above a relegation play-off,[11] but the club's third title in four seasons was won in 1997 as they beat holders Rapid Wien by three points.[12]

Salzburg's inaugural UEFA Champions League campaign in 1994–95 saw them reach the group stage by beating Israel's Maccabi Haifa 5–2 on aggregate.[13] They were drawn into Group D with holders and eventual finalists Milan and eventual winners Ajax, as well as AEK Athens. Despite drawing both matches with Ajax, Salzburg picked up a solitary 3–1 win away in Athens and were eliminated in third place.[14]

The club moved to its current stadium in 2003.[15]

The Red Bull company headed by Dietrich Mateschitz purchased the Salzburg Sport AG on 6 April 2005. The club's bylaws were amended so that the Red Bull Salzburg GmbH has the sole right to appoint and recall board members of the club. After the takeover, Mateschitz changed the club's name, management, and staff, declaring "this is a new club with no history". The club's website initially claimed that it was founded in 2005, but was ordered to remove this claim by the Austrian Football Association. The new authority removed all trace of violet from the club logo and the team now play in the colours of red and white, to the consternation of much of the club's traditional support.[16] A small pair of wings form the motif of the new club crest, displayed on the team jersey, in accordance with Red Bull's commercial slogan at the time: "gives you wings". This complete re-branding of the team proved very similar to Red Bull's treatment of its two Formula One racing teams, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, now rebranded as Scuderia AlphaTauri. Red Bull, however, would not completely follow this precedent when it acquired the MetroStars club in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States; while it rebranded the team as the New York Red Bulls, it chose to recognise the MetroStars' history.

Red Bull Salzburg, October 2005

The traditional supporters tried to resist the radical changes and formed their own movement in order to regain some of the tradition. Several fan-clubs throughout Europe voiced their support in what they saw as a fight against the growing commercialisation of football. However, after five months of protests and talks between the club owners and traditional fans, no compromise was reached. On 15 September 2005, the "violet" supporters stated that the talks had irreversibly broken down and efforts to reach an agreement would be terminated.

This gave rise to two separate fan groups: the "Red-Whites", who support "Red Bull Salzburg" and the "Violet-Whites", who want to preserve the 72-year-old tradition and refuse to support the rebranded club. The Violet-Whites ultimately formed a new club, Austria Salzburg after viewing Red Bull's offer to maintain the original colours only for the goalkeeper's socks at away games as an insult.[17]

The club's history going back to 1933 was later restored on the club website.[18]

Dutchman Ricardo Moniz coached Red Bull to a Bundesliga and cup double in the 2011–12 season.

German Roger Schmidt was the team's coach from 2012 until 2014.

In May 2006, Red Bull announced on their website that they had hired veteran Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni, together with his former player, German FIFA World Cup winner Lothar Matthäus, as co-trainers. The pair initially denied having reached a deal, but officially signed on 23 May 2006. On 28 April 2007, Red Bull ultimately won the 2006–07 Bundesliga by a comfortable margin with five games still left in the season after drawing 2–2 with previous season's champions Austria Wien.[19][20]

Red Bull were beaten by Shakhtar Donetsk in the third qualifying round[21][22] of the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League, and were then knocked out of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup in the first round by AEK Athens. On 13 February 2008, Giovanni Trapattoni confirmed that he would be taking over as the new Republic of Ireland national team manager in May. In his final season, the club finished as runners-up, six points behind champions Rapid Wien.[23] Trapattoni was succeeded by Co Adriaanse, under whom they finished as champions, but he left after one year. His successor was Huub Stevens. On 14 May 2010, Stevens' Red Bull retained the Bundesliga.[24]

Jesse Marsch – the team's former manager

Stevens was replaced by Dutchman Ricardo Moniz at the end of the 2010–11 season, in which Red Bull were denied a third consecutive title by Sturm Graz, who won the league by a three-point margin.[25] Red Bull finished second in the league, and qualified for the following season's UEFA Europa League. Moniz was ordered to integrate young players from the Junior squad: at the beginning of the 2011–12 season Daniel Offenbacher, Martin Hinteregger, Georg Teigl and Marco Meilinger were promoted to the first team. In the 2011–12 season, Red Bull won the Bundesliga league title and Cup double.

After the 2011–12 season, Moniz departed his post despite having a year remaining on his contract. The new coach for the 2012–13 season was Roger Schmidt, who came from SC Paderborn of the German 2. Bundesliga. In July 2012, Red Bull were knocked out of the Champions League in the second qualifying round against F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg, losing the first leg 1–0 away, followed by a 4–3 home win which saw the club eliminated on away goals.[26]

After that, the team was changed fundamentally. At the end of the transfer period, new players were purchased: Valon Berisha, Kevin Kampl, Håvard Nielsen, Sadio Mané, Isaac Vorsah, Rodnei. In the 2012–13 season, the team finished second in the league, behind champions Austria Wien. They recaptured the league title the following season with an 11-point margin over the runners-up. Also, in the 2014–15 season, they won both the Bundesliga and the cup as they did again in the 2015–16 season. In December 2014, the coach Peter Zeidler was dismissed and replaced for the last two matches in the first half of the season by Thomas Letsch. Then Óscar García took over.

Also in the next 2016–17 season, Salzburg won both the Bundesliga and the cup. In 2018, Salzburg lost the cup final against Sturm Graz. At the beginning of the 2017–18 season, Marco Rose became coach after Óscar García left the club. In the UEFA Europa League, Salzburg reached the semi-finals in which they lost to Olympique de Marseille 2–3 on aggregate after extra time, having won during the campaign against Borussia Dortmund and Lazio.

After eleven failed attempts to reach the group stage, Red Bull only managed to qualify directly to the 2019–20 Champions League, since the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League winner, Liverpool, qualified to the competition via their domestic league.[27]

In the years from 2013 to 2019, Salzburg earned €300 million from transfers of players like Munas Dabbur, Xaver Schlager, Stefan Lainer, Hannes Wolf, Diadie Samassekou, Takumi Minamino, Sadio Mané and Erling Haaland, all whilst earning a reputation for finding and developing promising young talent.[28]

In 2021, Salzburg had a transfer balance of €218 million for the last five seasons, behind UEFA Champions League participants Ajax (€242 million) and Benfica (more than €335 million). Salzburg had a positive balance in every year.[29] In the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, they reached both the Championship and the Cup finals. In the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League, they reached the knock-out stage for the first time. In the round of 16, they played versus Bayern Munich.[30]

• 1933 to 1946: SV Austria Salzburg (merger of FC Rapid Salzburg and FC Hertha Salzburg)
• 1946 to 1950: TSV Austria Salzburg (merger with ATSV Salzburg)
• 1950 to 1973: SV Austria Salzburg (merger dissolved)
• 1973 to 1976: SV Gerngroß A. Salzburg (Gerngroß Department Store sponsorship)
• 1976 to 1978: SV Sparkasse Austria Salzburg (Erste Group savings bank sponsorship)
• 1978 to 1997: SV Casino Salzburg (Casinos Austria sponsorship)
• 1997 to 2005: SV Wüstenrot Salzburg (Wüstenrot-Gruppe sponsorship)
• 2005 to present: FC Red Bull Salzburg (FC Salzburg in European competition)

Red Bull Salzburg's name and crest have changed several times throughout the club's history as a result of mergers, sponsorships, and acquisitions. Though "Austria" has not been part of the club's official name since 1978, until 2005 the club had been colloquially referred to as Austria Salzburg by fans and media.

Due to UEFA sponsorship regulations, "Red Bull" may not be present in the club's name or crest in international European competitions. The club plays as FC Salzburg and uses a modified crest, with Red Bull present only on their kits as a sponsor.

Accurate as of 24 October 2023

Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

• Q = Qualification
• PO = Play-off
• KRPO = Knockout Round Play-Off
• QF = Quarter-final
• SF = Semi-final

As of 27 May 2022[50]

Rank	Country	Team	Points
21		FC Salzburg	71.000

As of 31 July 2023[51]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Nico Mantl 3 DF  SRB Aleksa Terzić 4 DF  POL Kamil Piątkowski 5 DF  SUI Bryan Okoh 6 DF  AUT Samson Baidoo 7 MF  ARG Nicolás Capaldo 8 MF  AUT Dijon Kameri 10 MF  CRO Luka Sučić 11 FW  BRA Fernando 14 MF  DEN Maurits Kjærgaard 15 MF  MLI Mamady Diambou 17 DF  AUT Andreas Ulmer (captain) 18 MF  DEN Mads Bidstrup 19 FW  CIV Karim Konaté

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  MLI Sékou Koïta 21 FW  SRB Petar Ratkov 22 DF  FRA Oumar Solet 23 FW  CRO Roko Šimić 24 GK  AUT Alexander Schlager 27 MF  FRA Lucas Gourna-Douath 29 DF  MLI Daouda Guindo 30 MF  ISR Oscar Gloukh 31 DF  SRB Strahinja Pavlović 32 MF  GHA Forson Amankwah 36 MF  AUT Justin Omoregie 45 FW  MLI Nene Dorgeles 55 MF  AUT Lukas Wallner 70 DF  BIH Amar Dedić

As of 17 January 2023[52]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 44 MF  NGA Samson Tijani (at Wolfsberger AC until 30 June 2024) — DF  BEL Ignace Van Der Brempt (at Hamburger SV until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GHA Lawrence Agyekum (at FC Liefering until 30 June 2024) — MF  MLI Mamadou Sangare (at TSV Hartberg until 30 June 2024)