RB Leipzig

Full name: RasenBallsport Leipzig e. V.

Year of foundation: 2009

Country and city: Germany, Leipzig

Stadium: Red Bull Arena

Colors: red and white

Nickname: ""Bulls"

The dominance of "Bayern" in German football has been going on for the last few years, but in the 2016-2017 season, one young team almost threw the "red car" off the throne.

We are talking about the football club "Leipzig" from the city of the same name. At the same time, the team is simply hated throughout Germany. At every match with their participation, the Bulls players are whistled and insulted. That's how hard life is for the "red-white" team.

Stone Forest tells you the story of a very young German club, which is not even ten years old since its foundation. But the bulls continue to perform well in the Bundesliga, and for the domestic public, a great chance to get acquainted with the German club will be a confrontation with Zenit St. Petersburg.

City of Leipzig

Leipzig is a city in Germany, located in the west of the federal state of Saxony. Its population is 590,000 people, making the city the largest in Saxony and the tenth in this indicator in all of Germany.

The city is widely known for its Leipzig University and numerous fairs. Leipzig is also an important economic, cultural and transport center of the country.

Together with another city called Halle located a few kilometers to the west, Leipzig forms an urban agglomeration with a population of 1.1 million people and is one of the most economically developed regions in eastern Germany.

According to archaeological data, the city was founded around 900 as a Slavic settlement, which was located on both banks of the Parte River. There are enough attractions here. The monument to the Battle of the Peoples (the largest monument in Europe) and the Monument to Russian Glory are required to visit.

Also, in addition to numerous fairs that you can visit with your own eyes, the Bazhovsky Festival takes place in the city every year, where the music of Johann Sebastian Bach sounds.

In addition to RB Leipzig, another football team called Lokomotiv had previously successfully performed in the city. The German "railwaymen" won the GDR Cup 4 times and once even played in the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but lost to Ajax in it.

However, the city is not united by football alone, Leipzig is also home to one of the strongest women's handball teams in Germany, which has won the national championship more than 20 times.

Red Bull Arena

The home arena of the German Bulls is the Red Bull Arena, opened after reconstruction in 2003. The main national team of the country also often holds its matches here.

Initially, the stadium was built back in 1956 and housed, you won't believe it, 100,000 spectators and before the restructuring that took place in 1998, it was considered the largest stadium in Germany. In 2010, the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH leased the stadium and renamed it the Red Bull Arena.

In the summer of 2006, during the World Cup in Germany, 5 matches were held at this stadium. This arena was the only one located on the territory of the former GDR that hosted World Cup matches.

History of RB Leipzig

Despite the fact that RB Leipzig is a very young club, the history of its predecessors dates back to 1893, when the city's club of the same name was founded. It functioned in parts, first playing from the moment of its foundation until 1946, but temporarily ceased functioning due to the war.

Then, from 1991 to 2004, he again began to delight local fans with his game. However, in 2004, the old Leipzig ceased to exist. And for five whole years the residents of the city had to live without their favorite game.

Only in May 2009, a new team was founded, which was named "RB Leipzig", the full name is RasenBallsport Leipzig.

The team was taken under its wing by Red Bull, which by that time already owned such football clubs as Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Brazil and Red Bull Ghana. As you understand, this company has a lot of money.

The name of a football team from Germany differs from other teams due to the statute of German football, which states how the name of the sponsor can be used as part of the name of the club. Unlike other football teams, Leipzig cannot bear the name "Red Bull" or completely belong to this company.

The history of the new football club began with the fact that the team bought a license from another local team, which was called "Markranstedt". And the Bulls began to play in the Oberliga, the fifth German division. Dietmar Beiersdoffer became the president of the team, and Markranstedt became the farm club of Leipzig.

The history of the new football club began with the fact that the team bought a license from another local team, which was called "Markranstedt". And the Bulls began to play in the Oberliga, the fifth German division. Dietmar Beiersdoffer became the president of the team, and Markranstedt became the farm club of Leipzig.

Since the 2010-2011 season, the team has been led by Thomas Oral. In the first season, he led the Bulls to fourth place in the North zone. A year later, the team won this tournament and rose to the third Bundesliga, and it was since then that the glorious story of the ascent of the young German team began.

In one season, Leipzig finished second in the third division and ended up in the second league. A year later, the club got into the first Bundesliga, and after another year, it even rose to the main league of the country. That's how for 6 years the club from the basement of German football found itself in the company of the best.

No one expected that the Bulls would have such a bright debut season in the Bundesliga and put up a decent resistance to Bayern. As a result, Leipzig fought the red car to the last, and many fans around the world (of course, except for German teams) were rooting for the young team, because the fairy tale in the face of Leicester was still in front of everyone's eyes. But, unfortunately, the guys from the red and white team took the second line, but managed to get ahead of such mastodons as Schalke, Borussia and Wolfsburg.

As a result, the club debuted in the Champions League, but failed to get out of the group. As a result, he found himself on the way of Zenit St. Petersburg to the Europa League playoffs, and even Roberto Mancini himself said: "RB Leipzig is one of the strongest teams in Germany.

I wouldn't say we were lucky." There were several interesting players in the Bulls squad - this is the mainstay Nabi Keita, who joined the ranks of Liverpool in the summer, so he should prove that he was not called to England for nothing.

And a young, but very talented striker Timo Werner, who is the team's top scorer and the main hope of the fans, but half of the giants of European football are already chasing the guy and it will be very difficult to keep him in their ranks.

The Leipzig club finished the 2017/2018 season quite well: 6th place in Germany and 1/4 of the Europa League. But next season it didn't work out in Europe. Apparently, RB deliberately did not pay due attention to international competitions in order to improve its position in the Bundeliga.

And they did it: 3rd place and the German Cup final, which, unfortunately, ended with a victory for Bayern.