Fc Red Bull Salzburg

Their home ground is the Red Bull Arena. Due to sponsorship restrictions, the club is known as FC Salzburg and wears a modified crest when playing in UEFA competitions.

Red Bull Salzburg

Full name	Fußballclub Red Bull Salzburg
Nickname(s)	Die Roten Bullen (The Red Bulls)
Founded	13 September 1933; 90 years ago (as SV Austria Salzburg)
Ground	Red Bull Arena, Wals-Siezenheim
Capacity	30,188
Chairman	Harald Lürzer
Head coach	Onur Cinel
League	Austrian Bundesliga
2022–23	Austrian Bundesliga, 1st of 12 (champions)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours European colours
Current season

The club was known as SV Austria Salzburg, and had several sponsored names, before being bought by Red Bull GmbH in 2005 who renamed the club and changed its colours from its traditional violet and white to red and white. The change resulted in some of the team's fans forming a new club, SV Austria Salzburg.

Founded in 1933, the club won its first Bundesliga title in 1994, which was the first of three in the span of four seasons which also saw them reach the 1994 UEFA Cup final. The club has won seventeen league titles and nine Austrian Cups, all nine of which came as doubles, as well as three Austrian Supercups. Salzburg has dominated Austrian football over the recent past, winning 14 league titles in 17 seasons including the latest 10 in a row.

 

1933–1953, founding, promotion to A-league

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. 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.

1953–1970

Vienna-born Erich Probst was Salzburg's first-ever international, earning the last of his 19 Austrian caps on 27 March 1960. 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.

1970–1990

Salzburg were top-flight runners-up for the first time in the 1970–71 season, gaining 43 points to Wacker Innsbruck's 44. 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.

 

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.

1990–2010

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. That same season, Salzburg won their first Bundesliga title, beating Austria Wien by 51 points to 49. The title was retained the following season as Salzburg beat Sturm Graz on goal difference. The 1995–96 season saw a drop to eighth place, one above a relegation play-off, but the club's third title in four seasons was won in 1997 as they beat holders Rapid Wien by three points.

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. 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.

The club moved to its current stadium in 2003.

The Red Bull takeover

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. 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 RB Formula One team. 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.

 

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.

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

Red Bull era

 

 

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.

Red Bull were beaten by Shakhtar Donetsk in the third qualifying round 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. 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.

2010–2020

 

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. 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.

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.

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.

2020–present

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. 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.

On April 17, 2024, the team qualified to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup for first time in his history following the elimination of Arsenal in the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League, as the semi-finalists had already qualified.

In 2009, Red Bull bought an amateur club in Leipzig, Germany and renamed them RasenBallsport Leipzig (so named to circumvent local rules on corporate naming) with the aim of establishing a leading branded team in that country in a similar mould to its existing franchises in Salzburg and other locations. Over the next decade, Leipzig became the owners' main football project, and the close relationship between the teams was exemplified by the number of players moving between them (Georg Teigl, Marcel Sabitzer, Yordy Reyna and Stefan Ilsanker all transferred from Salzburg to Leipzig) with some of the Austrian fans becoming increasingly annoyed at their best players being signed by the 'step-sibling' club in their mission to climb through the levels of German football. There are also links between their youth systems and scouting networks.

Having finished as runners-up in their debut season in the German top flight, RB Leipzig gained entry to continental football for the first time, specifically the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League for which Red Bull Salzburg had also qualified as Austrian champions; this raised the issue of a possible conflict of interest between the clubs due to the level of influence exerted by Red Bull over both teams and the close sporting relationship between them in various aspects. After examining the operational structures during June 2017, UEFA declared themselves satisfied under their regulations that the two clubs (particularly Salzburg) were suitably independent from the Red Bull corporation, and sufficiently distinct from one another, for both to be admitted to their competitions. In the first season following that ruling, both reached the quarter-finals of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League but did not play each other, with RB Leipzig eliminated by Olympique de Marseille who then also knocked out Salzburg in the semi-finals. However, in the next edition of the same competition, RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg were drawn together in Group B to meet competitively for the first time. Salzburg were the victors in both fixtures between the clubs (3–2 in Germany, 1–0 in Austria) and also won all their other matches to top the group, while Leipzig failed to progress after dropping further points against Celtic and Rosenborg. In December 2020, Dominik Szoboszlai poised to become the second RB Salzburg player to move to RB Leipzig in space of 6 months after Hwang Hee-chan completed the switch in summer. In 2023, they completed deals of both Nicolas Seiwald (€20,000,000) and Benjamin Šeško (€24,000,000) from Salzburg for a total of €54,000,000.

Austrian Bundesliga

• Champions (17): 1993–94*, 1994–95*, 1996–97*, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
• Runners-up (4): 2005–06, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2012–13

Austrian Cup

• Winners (9): 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
• Runners-up (5): 1973–74*, 1979–80*, 1980–81*, 1999–2000*, 2017–18

Austrian Supercup

• Winners (3): 1994*, 1995*, 1997*

Austrian First League

• Winners: 1977–78*, 1986–87*

UEFA Cup

• Runners-up: 1993–94*

UEFA Youth League

• Winners: 2016–17
• Runners-up: 2021–22

* as SV Austria Salzburg

Club name history

• 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.

Club crest history

Overall record

Accurate as of 22 April 2024

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

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1971–72	UEFA Cup	1		UT Arad	3–1	1–4	4–5
1976–77	UEFA Cup	1		Adanaspor	5–0	0–2	5–2
		2		Red Star Belgrade	2–1	0–1	2–2
1980–81	European Cup Winners' Cup	1		Fortuna Düsseldorf	0–3	0–5	0–8
1992–93	UEFA Cup	1		Ajax	0–3	1–3	1–6
1993–94	UEFA Cup	1		DAC Dunajska Streda	2–0	2–0	4–0
		2		Antwerp	1–0	1–0	2–0
		3		Sporting CP	3–0 (a.e.t.)	0–2	3–2
		QF		Eintracht Frankfurt	1–0	0–1	1–1 (5–4 p.)
		SF		Karlsruher SC	0–0	1–1	1–1
		Final		Internazionale	0–1	0–1	0–2
1994–95	UEFA Champions League as Casino Salzburg	Q1		Maccabi Haifa	3–1	2–1	5–2
		Group D		AEK Athens	0–0	3–1	3rd Place
				Milan	0–1	0–3
				Ajax	0–0	1–1
1995–96	UEFA Champions League	Q1		Steaua București	0–0	0–1	0–1
1997–98	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Sparta Prague	0–0	0–3	0–3
	UEFA Cup	1		Anderlecht	4–3	2–4	6–7
1998	UEFA Intertoto Cup	2		St. Gallen	3–1	0–1	3–2
		3		Twente	3–1	2–2	5–3
		4		Fortuna Sittard	3–1	1–2	4–3
		5		Valencia	0–2	1–2	1–4
2000	UEFA Intertoto Cup	2		Nistru Otaci	1–1	6–2	7–3
		3		Standard Liège	1–1	1–3	2–4
2003–04	UEFA Cup	1		Udinese	0–1	2–1	2–2
		2		Parma	0–4	0–5	0–9
2006–07	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Zürich	2–0	1–2	3–2
		Q3		Valencia	1–0	0–3	1–3
	UEFA Cup	1		Blackburn Rovers	2–2	0–2	2–4
2007–08	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Ventspils	4–0	3–0	7–0
		Q3		Shakhtar Donetsk	1–0	1–3	2–3
	UEFA Cup	1		AEK Athens	1–0	0–3	1–3
2008–09	UEFA Cup	Q1		Banants	7–0	3–0	10–0
		Q2		Sūduva Marijampolė	0–1	4–1	4–2
		1		Sevilla	0–2	0–2	0–4
2009–10	UEFA Champions League	Q2		Bohemians	1–1	1–0	2–1
		Q3		Dinamo Zagreb	1–1	2–1	3–2
		PO		Maccabi Haifa	1–2	0–3	1–5
	UEFA Europa League	Group G		Lazio	2–1	2–1	1st Place
				Villarreal	2–0	1–0
				Levski Sofia	1–0	1–0
		Round of 32		Standard Liège	0–0	2–3	2–3
2010–11	UEFA Champions League	Q2		HB Tórshavn	5–0	0–1	5–1
		Q3		Omonia	4–1	1–1	5–2
		PO		Hapoel Tel Aviv	2–3	1–1	3–4
	UEFA Europa League	Group A		Manchester City	0–2	0–3	4th Place
				Lech Poznań	0–1	0–2
				Juventus	1–1	0–0
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	Q2		Liepājas Metalurgs	4–1	0–0	4–1
		Q3		Senica	1–0	3–0	4–0
		PO		Omonia	1–0	1–2	2–2
		Group F		Slovan Bratislava	3–0	3–2	2nd Place
				Athletic Bilbao	0–1	2–2
				Paris Saint-Germain	2–0	1–3
		Round of 32		Metalist Kharkiv	0–4	1–4	1–8
2012–13	UEFA Champions League	Q2		F91 Dudelange	4–3	0–1	4–4
2013–14	UEFA Champions League	Q3		Fenerbahçe	1–1	1–3	2–4
	UEFA Europa League	PO		Žalgiris Vilnius	5–0	2–0	7–0
		Group C		Elfsborg	4–0	1–0	1st Place
				Esbjerg	3–0	2–1
				Standard Liège	2–1	3–1
		Round of 32		Ajax	3–1	3–0	6–1
		Round of 16		Basel	1–2	0–0	1–2
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	3Q		Qarabağ	2–0	1–2	3–2
		PO		Malmö FF	2–1	0–3	2–4
	UEFA Europa League	Group D		Celtic	2–2	3–1	1st Place
				Astra Giurgiu	5–1	2–1
				Dinamo Zagreb	4–2	5–1
		Round of 32		Villarreal	1–3	1–2	2–5
2015–16	UEFA Champions League	3Q		Malmö FF	2–0	0–3	2–3
	UEFA Europa League	PO		Dinamo Minsk	2–0	0–2	2–2 (2–3 p.)
2016–17	UEFA Champions League	2Q		FK Liepāja	1–0	2–0	3–0
		3Q		Partizani	2–0	1–0	3–0
		PO		Dinamo Zagreb	1–2 (a.e.t.)	1–1	2–3
	UEFA Europa League	Group I		Schalke 04	2–0	1–3	3rd Place
				Krasnodar	0–1	1–1
				Nice	0–1	2–0
2017–18	UEFA Champions League	2Q		Hibernians	3–0	3–0	6–0
		3Q		Rijeka	1–1	0–0	1–1 (a)
	UEFA Europa League	PO		Viitorul Constanța	4–0	3–1	7–1
		Group I		Marseille	1–0	0–0	1st Place
				Vitória de Guimarães	3–0	1–1
				Konyaspor	0–0	2–0
		Round of 32		Real Sociedad	2–1	2–2	4–3
		Round of 16		Borussia Dortmund	0–0	2–1	2–1
		QF		Lazio	4–1	2–4	6–5
		SF		Marseille	2–1 (a.e.t.)	0–2	2–3
2018–19	UEFA Champions League	3Q		Shkëndija	3–0	1–0	4–0
		PO		Red Star Belgrade	2–2	0–0	2–2 (a)
	UEFA Europa League	Group B		Rosenborg	3–0	5–2	1st Place
				Celtic	3–1	2–1
				RB Leipzig	1–0	3–2
		Round of 32		Club Brugge	4–0	1–2	5–2
		Round of 16		Napoli	3–1	0–3	3–4
2019–20	UEFA Champions League	Group E		Genk	6–2	4–1	3rd Place
				Napoli	2–3	1–1
				Liverpool	0–2	3–4
	UEFA Europa League	Round of 32		Eintracht Frankfurt	2–2	1–4	3–6
2020–21	UEFA Champions League	PO		Maccabi Tel Aviv	3–1	2–1	5–2
		Group A		Bayern Munich	2–6	1–3	3rd Place
				Atlético Madrid	0–2	2–3
				Lokomotiv Moscow	2–2	3–1
	UEFA Europa League	Round of 32		Villarreal	0–2	1–2	1–4
2021–22	UEFA Champions League	PO		Brøndby	2–1	2–1	4–2
		Group G		Sevilla	1–0	1–1	2nd Place
				Lille	2–1	0–1
				VfL Wolfsburg	3–1	1–2
		Round of 16		Bayern Munich	1–1	1–7	2–8
2022–23	UEFA Champions League	Group E		Milan	1–1	0–4	3rd Place
				Chelsea	1–2	1–1
				Dinamo Zagreb	1–0	1–1
	UEFA Europa League	KRPO		Roma	1–0	0–2	1–2
2023–24	UEFA Champions League	Group D		Benfica	1–3	2–0	4th Place
				Real Sociedad	0–2	0–0
				Internazionale	0–1	1–2

UEFA coefficient ranking

As of 27 May 2022

Rank	Country	Team	Points
21		Red Bull Salzburg	71.000

Current squad

As of 8 February 2024

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF   SRB Aleksa Terzić 4 DF   GER Hendry Blank 5 DF   SUI Bryan Okoh 6 DF   AUT Samson Baidoo 7 MF   ARG Nicolás Capaldo 10 MF   CRO Luka Sučić 11 FW   BRA Fernando 13 GK   GER Timo Horn 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 20 FW   MLI Sékou Koïta 21 FW   SRB Petar Ratkov 22 DF   FRA Oumar Solet

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 FW   CRO Roko Šimić 24 GK   AUT Alexander Schlager 25 DF   AUT Flavius Daniliuc (on loan from Salernitana) 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 39 DF   GER Leandro Morgalla 41 GK   GER Jonas Krumrey 45 FW   MLI Nene Dorgeles 49 MF   MLI Moussa Kounfolo Yeo 55 DF   AUT Lukas Wallner 70 DF   BIH Amar Dedić

Out on loan

As of 2 February 2024

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK   GER Nico Mantl (at   Viborg FF until 30 June 2024) — MF   NGA Samson Tijani (at   Wolfsberger AC until 30 June 2024) — DF   BRA Douglas Mendes (at   Red Bull Bragantino until 31 December 2024) — DF   POL Kamil Piątkowski (at   Granada until 30 June 2024) — DF   BEL Ignace Van Der Brempt (at   Hamburger SV until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   AUT Dijon Kameri (at   Grasshopper until 30 June 2024) — MF   GHA Lawrence Agyekum (at   FC Liefering until 30 June 2024) — MF   MLI Mamadou Sangare (at   TSV Hartberg until 30 June 2024) — MF   MLI Gaoussou Diakité (at   FC Liefering until 30 June 2024) — FW   SUI Federico Crescenti (at   Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz until 30 June 2024)

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Gerhard Struber
Assistant managers	Florens Koch
Assistant coaches	Alexander Hauser
Additional coaches	Herbert Ilsanker

Since 2012, FC Liefering, currently participating in the Austrian First League, has been a farm team for Red Bull Salzburg.

• RB Leipzig
• New York Red Bulls
• Red Bull Bragantino
• EHC Red Bull München
• EC Red Bull Salzburg