RB Leipzig is a club often sneered at. A plastic club. An outsider. Artificial. So is the dislike of RB Leipzig justified? It stems from how they were formed however we wanted an RB Leipzig matchday experience to see if there was another side to this club.
The Background
The 50+1 Rule is important to fan bases in Germany, it is unique and protects their clubs from making choices which are not inline with the vision of the fans. The fact that RB Leipzig appear to circumvent this is where much of the hatred comes from.
At-least 50% of the ownership of clubs in Germany should belong to the fans whilst also holding an extra vote when necessary to ensure the club is run the way they want. At some clubs this membership is hundreds of thousands of fans, but at RB Leipzig it is a tiny number due to the clubs strict and selective process – when the club was formed in May 2009 there were just 7 founder members, all employees of Red Bull.
MK Dons comparison
The detail goes back further and people often make the comparison to MK Dons who picked up Wimbledon Football Club, moved it to Milton Keynes and renamed it. The same occurred here albeit under different circumstances. SSV Markranstadt were a fifth tier club in the Leipzig area so the club was invested in and renamed, as opposed to being displaced.
RB had initially looked at investing in established Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs such as Fortuna Dusseldorf however due to the 50+1 Rule the opportunity was extinguished by fan groups quickly. The company settled on the City of Leipzig where there had been no Bundesliga participation since 1994. The license to play in the Oberliga was sold by SSV Markranstadt to Red Bull and the journey to try and reach the Bundesliga with in 8 years started.
RB or Red Bull?
When Red Bull looked to rename the club from SSV Markranstadt it was refused so rather than use “Red Bull” they used the company initials RB instead, supposedly standing for “RasenBall Sport”. Unlike other examples of businesses supporting clubs in their vicinity, Red Bull was a world renowned brand looking to make profit from this move and is another reason people take a dislike to the club.
Red Bull Arena
The current stadium is built on the site of the Zentralstadion which opened in 1956. After falling into disuse the decision was made to build a new stadium within the grounds of the existing one and this took place between 2000 and 2004 and was then used during the 2006 World Cup. RB Leipzig took over the naming rights in 2010 and further stadium enhancements have been made since.
Current Season
The Bundesliga season hadn’t started well on matchday one with RB Leipzig hammered away at Champions Bayern Munich 6-0. There was a feeling that nothing other than a comprehensive victory over Heidenheim would eradiate that memory to allow the season to get the kick-start it needed.
New head coach Ole Werner, appointed in June 2025, has signed three outstanding players. 18 year old Yan Diomande from the Ivory Coast was signed from Leganes and scored on his debut versus Sandhausen in the Pokal. He was joined by Andrija Maksimović and Johan Bakayoko, a Belgian international from PSV Eindhoven.
RB Leipzig’s opponents on Mathday 2 were Heidenheim who finished the 2024/25 season in 16th place and enter their third consecutive season in The Bundesliga. Heidenheim have had a similar yet longer journey up through the league system having been as low as the Verbandsliga in 2004, then seeing promotion gradually achieved through Oberliga, Regionalliga, 3.Liga and Bundesliga 2.
Before the Match
As we were early we found a nice little bar tucked away down a side street called Schrebers. There were football fans there but it was not overly busy and on a nice day we sat outside. The food looked great however we just grabbed a couple of beers. A great little place to head to before a match here.
Schrebers Bar is just 10 minutes walk from the stadium
Access to the Red Bull Arena
We arrived a couple of hours before the match and there was a massive green area utilised as a fan park outside where fans were purchasing food and drink, and good activities for younger fans too.
Purchasing tickets was simple on the RB Leipzig website. To use the tickets we needed to download the RBL App and tickets appeared there easily. These were then scanned at the entrance where there were no queues – expertly organised.
Massive fanpark outside the Red Bull Arena
RB Fan base
Plastic or otherwise, we took our position amongst fans in the home end behind the goal and you could not fault their commitment to the support. The section was as loud and as passionate of many we have visited in The Bundesliga.
The concourse for fans to use was huge, queues for the bar or toilets just didn’t occur due to the excellent number of facilities. The way the stadium is laid out means that you don’t feel you have really left the arena when you go and grab something to eat or drink.
The concourse was very spacious
Impressive view from inside the ground
RB Leipzig 2 FC Heidenheim 0
This Bundesliga Match finished 2-0 to the home team with the game coming to life with two goals in the second half. First a strike from Christoph Baumgartner after 48 minutes which was rifled into the net with the outside of his boot from a tight angle, and then Brazilian Romulo Cardoso back-heeled the ball into the net on 78 minutes on what was his Bundesliga debut!
RB fans hold aloft their scarves
A New Support
A new era of supporters are growing up in the Leipzig area and are seeing a local team trying to be successful, investing in youth, being a family club and ultimately being ambitious. However, the club reached this position will be scorned upon by fans who have been watching football as long as we have.
Could the relative success of RB Leipzig see other business invest in a similar way? The gate is arguably open however the hatred within the game by sets of supporters may very much dissuade other companies from doing the same.
Our Summary
We had a great day at RB Leipzig, yes we had the feelings of . It may not be a good think for football in Germany and other fan groups don’t like it, however it is probably a good thing for the city of Leipzig.
If travelling to Leipzig we would recommend visiting two traditional clubs Lok Leipzig and Chemie Leipzig, both are fantastic experiences at Regionalliga level.
After the Match
With a 40 minute walk back to the main station, we broke the walk up by heading to Cliff’s Brauwerk – a brilliant little micro brewery, again not too busy but filled up with football fans in the hour we were there. Just a 15 minute walk from the Red Bull Arena.
Cliff’s Brauwerk is a great micro brewery 15 mins from the ground
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