“Red Bull Salzburg” - is one of the strongest Austrian clubs of our time. He acquired his present guise only ten years ago when he was bought by Red Bull. However, before that, the history of the team had its own successes and achievements. In this article, you will learn what the Red Bull Salzburg Club has accomplished during its existence.
Club history
The Red Bull Salzburg was founded in 1933, but then it was only called Salzburg. Since then, the name of the club has changed many times, but the longest it was called "Austria" - the owners returned to this name as much as three times in history. And that is exactly what the club was called in 2005, when it was bought out by the Red Bull Corporation and renamed the Red Bull Salzburg. Then the club was completely rebranded, impressive finances were poured in, which made it much more competitive and regained its former glory.
Success
Red Bull Salzburg is a football club that has accomplished a lot over its entire existence. In the fifties, he first got out into the big leagues, was able to stay there and fought well for the next decades. For the first time, the club was able to win the Austrian Championship in 1994 - that year became legendary for the players, as they were able to climb higher than anything else in the European tournament. Salzburg retained the largest clubs in Europe and reached the final of the UEFA Cup, where they lost to Inter in Milan. This was the biggest achievement of the team in the international arena - after that the Austrians were only able to enter the 1/8 Europa League in 2014. But if you go back to the local arena, then the club was extremely successful. He won three championships in a row, including the first in club history. But then a serious recession ensued, and until the appearance of the Red Bull on the stage, the team could not win anything. However, as soon as financing appeared, Salzburg flirted with new colors. Already in 2007, the Austrians again became champions of the country and repeated this success then six more times, the last three times in a row. In addition, from 2012 to 2016, Salzburg won four Austrian Cups, and today it is considered one of the strongest, if not the most venerable club in Austria.
Record holders
The most matches for the club were played by Austrian defender Thomas Winklhofer, who played for Salzburg from 1992 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2007, that is, almost his entire career. During this time, he spent 429 matches - an incredible figure, since his closest pursuer, Hermann Stadler, has only 360 games on his account. If we talk about those players who currently defend the colors of the club, then the record holders are Christoph Leitgeb and Andreas Ulmer - they played 289 and 285 matches for the team, respectively. As for the goals scored, the current striker Honatan Soriano, who managed to score 170 goals in 197 matches, is the undisputed record holder.
Record transfers
Red Bull Salzburg is a football club whose transfers since 2005 were exceptionally outstanding for the level of the Austrian League. A record amount (six million euros) was spent in the summer of 2016 on the acquisition of Israeli striker Munas Dabbur. It is also worth noting the transfer of Sadio Mane in 2012 - the 20-year-old Senegalese was then unknown to anyone, but the Scouts managed to consider a rising star in it. And now he is one of the key players in one of the strongest clubs in England - Liverpool. Actually, it was Mane’s transfer to Liverpool, along with the transfer of Nabi Keita to another club belonging to the concern, Red Bull Leipzig, that was a record. In both cases, the players were paid fifteen million euros.