How RB Leipzig Could Earn And Use A $200 Million-Plus Fortune

Transfers are not the only ways a soccer club makes money. Yet, for the Bundesliga team RB Leipzig, controlled by Austrian energy-drink giant Red Bull GmbH, player sales are poised to bring an unprecedented windfall to Germany’s east over the coming weeks and months.

With a department skilled at fast-tracking burgeoning talents, Leipzig has acquired youthful players and released them for much higher amounts—a method developed a few years after Red Bull’s first involvement in 2009. Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konaté and Naby Keïta spring to mind, and it’s now the same model at the conglomerate’s other European entity, Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.

Christopher Nkunku: Chelsea’s €60 million ($65 million) signing. That started the cash flow around Leipzig this summer. Now its winger Dominik Szoboszlai looks en route to Liverpool for a similar price. Then, there is the big one. Prized defender Josko Gvardiol is a target for Manchester City and would become the game’s most expensive defender ever upon moving to the Premier League. Leipzig demands €100 million ($109 million) for his signature.

Together, those deals would see over €200 million ($218 million) reach the accounts—money the side has never seen before. Due to its Red Bull bankrolling, Leipzig, becoming used to Champions League soccer, is a largely unpopular name in Germany. But a calculated sporting and financial strategy—first established under ex-sporting director Ralf Rangnick—is equally responsible for the dollars and on-field developments. It’s evolving, too.

“It’s been quite unique,” Karan Tejwani, who authored Wings of Change—a book about Red Bull’s mark on soccer—told me in an interview.

“Initially, as an emerging club, it was a straightforward process—finding the best young players from Germany and Europe. It targeted the French market heavily. It wanted to find players with great potential or few opportunities at top clubs. Nkunku is a prime example.

“Rangnick arrived and made the biggest difference to RB Leipzig and the whole Red Bull model, where it all became one network. That’s how it became a process of buying young players, developing them, before selling them for high fees.”

The fact Leipzig can demand so much for its stars tells you something about their growing profile. Despite a close shave last season, Bayern remains the enduring pacesetter in Germany, with Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund the usual chasers. Still, Leipzig has won two consecutive German Cups and is gunning for three in a row next term—something no side, not even Bayern, has achieved.

Potentially losing three assets in Nkunku, Szobszlai, and Gvardiol sets the alarm bells ringing unless it can find replacements. So, what could it do with the money?

“Before he (Rangnick) was there, until about 2019, that model stayed the same,” Tejwani added. “And it continued employing managers, coaches, and directors who follow that same buying and selling philosophy. After his departure in 2020, it changed with a new identity, with the club hoping to win more trophies.”

That has been identifying slightly more established players, those nailed on to hit the ground running, plus ones climbing their first steps in the game. Leipzig knows it doesn’t have the same pull as Bayern or Dortmund, so attracting the best of the best is unrealistic. So far, it has welcomed Christoph Baumgartner, Benjamin Sesko and Nicolas Seiwald through the door.

Its track record in bettering players is attractive to many and will benefit its newest addition—20-year-old Fábio Carvalho on loan from Liverpool. Such is the modus operandi, he and others know Leipzig serves as a stopping-off point. Once they reach their peak, they can develop elsewhere, with the German side stashing away a handsome sum in exchange, from which it can reinvest once more.

Already the dominant brand, Red Bull is virtually Leipzig itself. So the club is better placed to raise income through players, the crucial commodities, rather than commercial partnerships or sponsorship deals.

“I’m really excited for my new challenge at RB Leipzig. RB is one of the best teams in the Bundesliga and regularly plays in the Champions League,” said Leipzig’s current sporting director Rouven Schröder after his appointment in March. “I now want to play my part in helping the club to take the next steps in its development.”

With enviable financial resources, despite its depleting squad strength, he and the club are ready for the test. While the Premier League clubs get excited about their incoming recruits, Leipzig must start working again.