Austria Salzburg v Red Bull Salzburg: A derby 18 years in the making

The Red Bull supremo, who died in October last year, was extremely passionate about the game and having seen his company work wonders in various other sports, he wanted them to succeed in football the most.

So when Red Bull took over Austria Salzburg – the club from the city in which the company is based – there was great optimism and excitement. It turned sour quickly.

When Red Bull approached Austria Salzburg about a plan to help in 2005, there was an expectation they would be major sponsors, aiding them through their financial troubles.

The club’s chairman at the time, Rudi Quehenberger, spoke highly of the energy drink manufacturer’s involvement as well, with German icon Franz Beckenbauer – a close friend of Mateschitz – set to sign on too.

However, as talks progressed, it became clear Red Bull did not just want to sponsor them, they wanted overall change – from colours, to crest, to name – and that infuriated the club’s fans.

On 13 June 2005, after weeks of protests and rejection, Austria Salzburg became Red Bull Salzburg, and their traditional purple colours became red and white.

The changing of colours and crest provoked most anger, and after talks between fan groups and Red Bull, the company came to an agreement to have violet only on the goalkeeper socks, further raising tensions and alienating a large group of their support.

It’s not uncommon for Austrian clubs to adopt a sponsor name into the official club name.

Even Austria Salzburg were called Casino Salzburg in the season they reached the Uefa Cup final in 1994, when they lost over two legs to Inter Milan.

However, Red Bull’s suggestions were just too much, and the fans decided they wanted no part of it, as board member Stefan Schubert explains.

“That company had just destroyed a huge part of our lives. Dropped the colours. Erased the history. We had negotiated with them for a while and all they offered in the end was to keep the goalkeeper’s socks violet. We wanted to keep our club, our history, our colours,” he says.

“It was not possible to do so with that company, so we decided to start our own club. Honestly, we did not have the slightest idea what we were getting into. It was, and still is, a lot of work but also quite fun.”

A large portion of the supporters formed their own phoenix club a year later, keeping the original name and history, even maintaining that they were formed in 1933, when Austria Salzburg was formed.

In the 78th minute of every home game at Austria Salzburg, Franz Xaver Ager, commonly known as ‘Schutzei’ makes his way to the front of the players’ tunnel in the compact Austria Stadion and in a loud tone begins his calling: “Ratatatatatata,” he shouts, and is answered by an even lounder shout, in unison, from the rest of the stadium of “Austria!”

This commemorates the club’s original history by doing it in the 33rd minute of the second half of every game, in tribute to their founding year of 1933.

On Tuesday, Austria Salzburg will play Red Bull Salzburg in the OFB Cup. It will be the first meeting between the two sides.

Plenty has changed in the time since Red Bull’s takeover.

Red Bull Salzburg have become Austria’s premier force, winning 14 league championships and nine OFB Cups since 2005. They have helped to develop some of the game’s best players including Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane, Marcel Sabitzer and Dayot Upamecano.

On the other side, Austria Salzburg have been up and down the third (where they are now) and fourth divisions and don’t have the riches that a major conglomerate can offer them so are always striving merely to make ends meet.

However, the animosity is still rife.

When the draw was announced in July, Austria Salzburg refused to use Red Bull Salzburg’s name in promotional adverts, using only initials, while the logo was replaced with a black circle with ‘RBS’ in the middle of it.

It would be a big game for any club in the third division, but it is naturally even bigger for Austria Salzburg given the backstory.

Schubert, who has been with the club since the start and eventually joined the board, explains: “We all knew the day would come and I am pretty sure many fans had hoped to draw them in the cup.

“Big games mean a big stage, something we do not get often in the third division. So most of the fans were excited by the draw. This is without doubt the biggest single game in recent years.”

Schubert says there is not a big protest planned, but that Austria Salzburg’s existence “already is the biggest possible protest”.

“The fans will mostly focus on creating a great atmosphere,” he adds. “We will celebrate our 90th anniversary just a few days earlier on 13 September, so September will be busy anyway.”

Red Bull’s presence within Austrian football has seen plenty of benefits for the city and country as a whole.

In 2014, they opened a state-of-the-art academy, one of the best in Europe, and helped produce talents that would shine across Europe, even spurring them to the Uefa Youth League title in 2017.

Their performances in Europe have also helped boost Austria’s Uefa co-efficient ranking, as they reached the Europa League semi-finals in 2018 and the last 16 of the Champions League in 2022 – rare heights for an Austrian side.

In that time, they have also helped develop players for the national team, which is now led by Ralf Rangnick, who started the youth revolution when he joined the Red Bull family in 2012, working on a project spanning three continents alongside Salzburg’s sister clubs in Leipzig, New York and Sao Paulo.

The Red Bull Salzburg fans are excited for the meeting later this month too but feel there will not be as much animosity as one would expect.

“Red Bull Salzburg has no hostility whatsoever towards Austria Salzburg as a club,” says one fan, who preferred not to be named.

“The hostility exists only among certain fans or in ultra circles. There will hardly be any problems before the match.”

The fan believes Red Bull’s presence and success has allowed Austria to become more welcoming of the club and that they are more accepted.

“Salzburg has gained a certain standing over the years, which is why acceptance has increased throughout Austria, in Salzburg anyway, except for Austria Salzburg,” the fan says.

A derby 18 years in the making, Austria Salzburg will host Red Bull Salzburg at the larger Untersberg-Arena in Grodig to accommodate for fan interest, and while it may be an early-round cup tie, this is arguably the biggest match of the Austrian football season, and one of the most significant anywhere in Europe.

There is history, animosity and intensity and it is a fight between the riches of Red Bull Salzburg and the undying love of Austria Salzburg.

Given their history and differences in success, it is a mismatch that Red Bull Salzburg should win.

However, an upset would live long in the memory and be a victory spoken about for years to come.