RB Leipzig

RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (lit. 'Lawn Ball Sports Leipzig'), commonly known as RB Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bull GmbH, which purchased the playing rights of fifth-tier side SSV Markranstädt with the intent of advancing the new club to the top-flight Bundesliga within eight years. The men's professional football club is run by the spin-off organization RasenBallsport Leipzig GmbH. RB Leipzig plays its home matches at the Red Bull Arena. The club nickname is Die Roten Bullen (English: The Red Bulls). In its inaugural season in 2009–10, RB dominated the NOFV-Oberliga Süd (V) and was promoted as champions to the Regionalliga Nord (IV). RB Leipzig won the 2012–13 Regionalliga Nordost season without a single defeat and was promoted to the 3. Liga (III), then finished the 2013–14 3. Liga season as runners-up and was promoted to the 2. Bundesliga (II) as the first team since the introduction of the 3. Liga to win promotion after only one season. On 12 May 2016, RB Leipzig along with SC Freiburg ensured promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2016–17 season with a 2–0 win over Karlsruher SC. RB Leipzig earned a place in the UEFA Champions League for the first time by finishing as runners-up in the 2016–17 Bundesliga. They reached the semi-finals of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, losing to Paris Saint-Germain of France. On 21 May 2022, they won their first major title, the DFB-Pokal, against SC Freiburg. They would win a second consecutive title the following season, this time defeating Eintracht Frankfurt. RB Leipzig's entrance into the upper echelons of German football has proven controversial, as the club's heavy corporate influence is regarded by many Germans to be antithetical to the traditional ownership, structure and management of sports clubs in Germany. On the other hand, some have expressed appreciation for what they view as an honourable endeavour to establish a durable footprint for the Bundesliga in the former German Democratic Republic, which previously had been at best tenuous since German reunification.