Money, club network and Jurgen Klopp: how Red Bull can help Paris FC change dimension

A bolt from the blue ! Red Bull was announced this Wednesday by L’Equipe – information that we are able to confirm – as a future minority shareholder of Paris FC version “Arnault”, up to 15%, while the family owner of LVMH (which owns Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France) should ultimately hold 85% of the capital of the Parisian club.

The Austrian firm is a major economic player, present in football for 20 years now. Sportingly, Red Bull presents serious guarantees based on the performances of its clubs in Leipzig and, to a lesser extent, Salzburg. The recent appointment as global football director of Red Bull of Jurgen Klopp, legendary coach of Dortmund and Liverpool, is an additional guarantee of success for the new Paris FC formula.

Owner of the Red Bull F1 team since 2005, the manufacturer of the famous energy drink, supposed to “give wings”, landed almost simultaneously in football, buying the SV Austria Salzburg club, the Austrian city where the headquarters is located. of the group. The Austrian club left its identity and colors behind to become Red Bull Salzburg.

After these trials, Red Bull attacked Germany and the Bundesliga. The company targeted Leipzig, host city of the 2006 World Cup. It initially faced refusal from supporters of the small club Sachsen Leipzig, then in the 4th division. Finally, in 2009, Red Bull made a deal for around €350,000 with SSV Markanstädt, an amateur club from the suburbs of Leipzig.

“RB” Leipzig was born. Indeed, according to German law, it is impossible to include a trademark in the name of a club. Also “Red Bull” was conveniently transformed into “RB” (RasenballSport). In just 7 years, RB Leipzig has climbed five levels to join the Bundesliga in 2016-2017. The following season, he played in the Champions League…

Major problem, during the 2017-2018 edition of the Champions League, Salzburg and Leipzig are both qualified, and an obvious conflict of interest arises, due to the presence of two teams with a single owner. However, UEFA, after investigation, validated the participation of the two clubs, after Red Bull argued that it was no longer the owner of Salzburg, but a simple financial partner. Also, RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg were able to line up. The two clubs even faced each other in the Europa League the following season.

In fact, the brand has given wings to its teams. Leipzig reached the last four of the Champions League (2020) and C3 (2022). Salzburg also played a half of C3 (2018). Complementing Leipzig, Salzburg and New York, Brazilian club Bragantino and FC Liefering complete the Red Bull galaxy of football clubs large and small.

Along the way, top players, such as Erling Haaland, Ibrahima Konaté, Dayot Upamecano, Naby Keïta, Dayot Upamecano, Dominik Szoboszlai and Benjamin Sesko, have emerged in the Red Bull environment, under the leadership of the global sporting director of at the time, Ralf Rangnick, now Austria coach. It remains to be seen whether the formula will work in France.