Club ProfileAnnex
Steckbrief – Facts, figures and milestones
RasenBallsport Leipzig e. V., known as RB Leipzig (RBL or the "Red Bulls"), have only played in the Bundesliga since the 2016/17 season. After Union Berlin and SC Paderborn, RB Leipzig are currently (as of 2019/20) the club with the shortest spell in Germany's footballing elite. The "Red Bulls" play their home matches at the Red Bull Arena. The 2006 World Cup stadium in the east of the city holds 42,959 spectators.
The club was founded in 2009 on the initiative of Red Bull GmbH and took over SSV Markranstädt's spot in the fifth-tier Oberliga Nordost for the 2009/10 season. The professional squad and youth teams down to U15 level have been spun off into RasenBallsport Leipzig GmbH since the first team's promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 2014, with Red Bull GmbH holding 99 per cent of the shares.
Due to its club structure and the accusation of being a "club without tradition," RB Leipzig is among the most polarising football clubs in Germany, provoking intense positive and negative reactions. In surveys by YouGov (June 2019) and Nielsen, the club consistently ranks third among the most popular German football clubs — behind Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund — but simultaneously among the most disliked.
Proof: In a 2018 survey by the Technical University of Braunschweig asking about the most likeable football clubs in Germany, RB Leipzig finished second to last. SC Freiburg, FC Augsburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Union Berlin and Mainz 05 were rated the most likeable Bundesliga clubs.
Bundesliga popularity table 2018: 1. SC Freiburg, 2. Holstein Kiel, 3. SV Sandhausen, 4. Jahn Regensburg, 5. FC St. Pauli, 6. FC Augsburg, 7. SpVgg Greuther Fürth, 8. Borussia Mönchengladbach, 9. Union Berlin, 10. FSV Mainz 05, 11. 1. FC Köln, 12. Erzgebirge Aue, 13. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, 14. SC Paderborn, 15. Borussia Dortmund, 16. 1. FC Heidenheim, 17. SV Werder Bremen, 18. 1. FC Nürnberg. Bottom three: Hertha BSC, FC Bayern and — last — RB Leipzig.
RB Leipzig's survey figures reveal that the club provokes far stronger feelings than many other Bundesliga sides. According to a 2017 Statista survey, 48% of football fans surveyed held a neutral position on RB. 28% opposed the club, while 24% were supporters. This makes RBL roughly as polarising as FC Bayern.