Football was a passion for Dietrich Mateschitz.
The late Red Bull CEO, who had a deep love for football and had seen his company excel in many other sports, wanted them to be successful in football more than anything. He died in October of the previous year..
As a result, there was a lot of enthusiasm and hope when Red Bull acquired Austria Salzburg, the team from the city where the company is headquartered. It rapidly went south.
Red Bull approached Austria Salzburg in 2005 with a proposal to assist, with the idea that they would become key sponsors and support them during their financial difficulties.
Rudi Quehenberger, the club’s then-chairman, praised the energy drink company’s cooperation as well. Mateschitz’s close buddy Franz Beckenbauer was also expected to sign on.
As the negotiations went on, it became evident that Red Bull wanted more than just a sponsorship; they also wanted a complete makeover, including new colors, a new crest, and a new name. This incensed the supporters of the team.
After several weeks of opposition and rejection, Austria Salzburg changed its name to Red Bull Salzburg on June 13, 2005, and their previous purple color scheme was replaced with red and white.
The most outrage was generated by the team’s new colors and emblem, and following discussions with fan organizations, Red Bull decided to limit the use of violet to the goalie socks, further inflaming emotions and alienating a significant portion of their fan base.
Austrian clubs frequently incorporate a sponsor name into the official club name.
Even Austria Salzburg was known as Casino Salzburg the year they advanced to the Uefa Cup final in 1994, losing to Inter Milan over two legs.
However, as board member Stefan Schubert explains, Red Bull’s recommendations were simply too much for the fans, who decided they had had enough.
“That business had pretty much destroyed a good chunk of our lives.” abandoned the colors. deleted the past. After much haggling, all they finally provided was to maintain the goalkeeper’s violet socks. We wanted to preserve our club’s identity, its past, and its colors,” he explains.
“We decided to establish our own club because working with that company was not an option. In all honesty, we were completely unaware of what we were getting into. It was fun even though it was and still is labor-intensive.
A year later, a sizable number of the fans started their own Phoenix club, maintaining the same name, timeline, and even claim that they were established in 1933, the same year Austria Salzburg was established.
In the 78th minute of every home game at Austria Salzburg, Franz Xaver Ager, also known as “Schutzei,” makes his way to the front of the players’ tunnel and starts yelling out loudly: “Ratatata,” he calls, and the crowd yells back, “Austria!” even louder.
This honors the club’s early past by performing it every game in minute 33 of the second half, in remembrance of their founding year of 1933.
In the OFB Cup on Tuesday, Austria Salzburg will take on Red Bull Salzburg. It will be the parties’ initial encounter.
In the years after Red Bull’s takeover, a lot has changed.
Since 2005, Red Bull Salzburg has emerged as Austria’s dominant force, winning nine OFB Cups and 14 league titles. Some of the top players in the game, such as Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane, Marcel Sabitzer, and Dayot Upamecano, have benefited from their development.
Austria Salzburg, on the other hand, have fluctuated between the third (where they are today) and fourth divisions and don’t have the wealth that a huge corporation can supply them, thus they are constantly struggling just to get by.
But the hostility is still pervasive.
When the draw was revealed in July, Austria Salzburg declined to use Red Bull Salzburg’s name in promotional advertisements, using just initials, and the emblem was changed to a black circle with ‘RBS’ in the center.
Any club in the third level would consider this a major game, but considering Austria Salzburg’s history, it is obviously far more significant.
We all knew the day would come, and I’m sure many supporters had hoped to draw them in the cup, says Schubert, who has been with the team from the beginning and finally joined the board.
Big games entail a big stage, something the third division does not provide frequently. Therefore, the draw excited the majority of the fans. Without a doubt, this is the biggest game in recent memory.
The existence of Austria Salzburg, according to Schubert, “already is the biggest possible protest” even though no significant demonstration is planned.
“The fans will mostly focus on creating a fantastic environment,” he continues. September will be hectic anyway because we will commemorate our 90th anniversary a few days earlier on September 13.
The city and nation as a whole have benefited greatly from Red Bull’s involvement in Austrian football.
They established one of Europe’s top modern academies in 2014 and helped develop players who would thrive throughout the continent, even inspiring them to win the Uefa Youth League championship in 2017.
As a result of their accomplishments in Europe, Austria’s Uefa co-efficient ranking has increased. They reached the last 16 of the Champions League in 2022 and the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2018, which are exceptional heights for an Austrian team.
The national team, which is currently led by Ralf Rangnick, who began the youth revolution when he joined the Red Bull family in 2012, has benefited from their work during that time as well. They have collaborated on a project spanning three continents with Salzburg’s sister clubs in Leipzig, New York, and Sao Paulo.
The Red Bull Salzburg supporters are eager for the meeting later this month as well, although they don’t anticipate as much hostility as one might anticipate.
One fan, who wished to remain unnamed, claims that Red Bull Salzburg has no animosity toward Austria Salzburg as a team.
“Only a small number of supporters or radical groups participate in the hatred. . There won’t be many issues before the game.
The supporter thinks that Austria has become more accepting of the team because of Red Bull’s presence and success.
“Salzburg has gained a certain standing over the years, which is why acceptance has increased throughout Austria, in Salzburg anyway, except for Austria Salzburg,” the fan asserts.
While it may be an early-round cup match, this is arguably the biggest game of the Austrian football season and one of the most important anywhere in Europe. Austria Salzburg will host Red Bull Salzburg in this derby, which has been 18 years in the making, at the larger Untersberg-Arena in Grodig to accommodate for fan interest.
It is a battle between the wealth of Red Bull Salzburg and the unwavering love of Austria Salzburg, and there is history, hostility, and intensity.
Given their respective histories and levels of success, Red Bull Salzburg ought to triumph in this match.
An unexpected triumph, on the other hand, would be one that would be spoken about for years to come.