Red Bull Bragantino Their latest project is now fizzing
When the energy drink giants’ bid for Brazilian domination didn’t go to plan, they simply changed tact and purchased another club. A good call, as it turned out – Bragantino have now reached the top tier and are ready to take flight in their quest for con
Fifty miles north of Sao Paulo, it all begins with sausages. Inside the Estadio Nabi Abi Chedid, a snack bar has done a roaring trade for years. Its most popular item is a range of sausage sandwiches each dedicated to a club legend – featuring Brazil’s 1994 World Cup- winning manager Carlos Alberto Parreira, fellow ’ 94 champion Mauro Silva and ex- Real Madrid head honcho Vanderlei Luxemburgo. In Braganca Paulista, you have not done anything in life until you have been immortalised in sausage. A small city of just 160,000 people, Brazilians know it for little else than its traditional delicacy. However, things are changing. Less than three years ago, the football team suffered relegation to Brazil’s third tier. Now they are in the top flight, ready to break up the country’s elite and challenge for continental glory. For decades, Brazil’s big honours have been gobbled up by powerhouses such as Palmeiras, Flamengo and Santos. But like in Germany and Austria, a new force is emerging. Red Bull.
FOOTBALL WITHOUT FANS IS...
Unlike elsewhere, Red Bull’s rise in Brazil is not a tale of one team, but two. Founded in 1987, the Austrian energy drinks firm made its move into sport after the turn of the millennium – in 2005, buying a Formula 1 team and football club Austria Salzburg, immediately rebranding them as Red Bull Salzburg. A year later in the United States, the Metrostars became the New York Red Bulls. Then in 2007, a full two seasons before the company expanded into German football with RB Leipzig, a new club called Red Bull Brasil were founded in Campinas, another city north of Sao Paulo.
Like Leipzig, they had to clamber their way up from the regional leagues and attempt to reach the summit. They appointed ex- Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Brazil forward Paulo Sergio as their inaugural coach, before climbing to Sao Paulo state’s second tier with two promotions in three seasons.
Among those to represent the side included Rodrigo Beckham, a David Beckham lookalike who didn’t actually look much like Beckham and spent an unsuccessful four- game spell at Everton in 2002- 03. Their strip was an identikit version of the white shirts and red shorts also worn by Salzburg and Leipzig.
Soon though, progress stalled. A succession of managers, including ex- Brazil international Argel Fucks, struggled to lead them out of the state’s second division, until they finally made it to the top tier in 2015. Two brief forays into Brazil’s national Serie D amounted to very little, though, and the project just wasn’t working.
In a city of one million people, Red Bull Brasil were failing to create any sort of enthusiasm or make their voice heard.
“Time has shown that the decision to set up a team in Campinas was a mistake,” concedes Thiago Scuro, who joined Red Bull’s Brazilian project in 2013. “It was a big city that already had two traditional sides, Guarani and Ponte Preta. It’s difficult to create a club from scratch in Brazil – to build a fanbase and have a whole city behind the team, which is very important.
“I have no doubt that the club would have been able to move up from Serie D, to Serie C, then to Serie B, but there would always have been the limitation of not having that fanbase. Red Bull Brasil’s main issue was not a sporting one, but to have fans; a soul.”
Reports suggested Red Bull were considering pulling the plug on their Brazilian project, but instead they came up with a new master plan, in a new city.
An hour’s drive east of Campinas, Braganca Paulista’s local side Clube Atletico Bragantino had enjoyed little success since promotion to the country’s elite level under Luxemburgo in 1989, then a shock second- place finish under Parreira two years later.
After relegation in 1998, they had bounced between Serie B and Serie C ever since. They almost got stuck in the third tier, but scraped into the 2018 play- offs via the fourth and final qualification place. A 4- 2 aggregate win over Nautico guaranteed promotion back to Serie B.
Restored to the second division, Bragantino were about to receive a major boost. In April 2019, shortly before the next season, Red Bull bought the club.
While the company hung onto original club Red Bull Brasil as a feeder team, their primary focus turned to the new side, only one league from the country’s top flight with potential for progress in the near future.
“We had started to analyse the market and wonder how we could combine our power in football with the tradition and history of a club whose community were looking to move them forward,” explains Scuro, who was installed as
Bragantino CEO following the takeover, having already held the same role with Red Bull Brasil. “Bragantino ticked all the boxes: a traditional side, successful in the ’ 90s, in a region of about half a million people, an hour from Sao Paulo. They had an ownership structure and a leader in Marco Chedid, our honorary president, who shared the vision that this would be a healthy way for the club to be competitive.
“There was some convincing to do, though, and the negotiations lasted around a year. But we eventually presented all of our plans and ambitions. We showed them that Red Bull has a long- term vision.”
Like Scuro, several others joined Bragantino after a previous association with Red Bull Brasil – including manager Zago, the former Roma centre- back who helped the Giallorossi lift their last Scudetto in 2000- 01.
“Bragantino already had their coaching team but we didn’t have a lot of time to implement our sporting project, so we chose to invite the coaching staff from Red Bull Brasil,” continues the CEO. “From there, we assembled a squad with a group of players who’d featured for Red Bull Brasil, keeping some from Bragantino and bringing in a few others.”
The plan paid dividends: Bragantino climbed to the Serie B summit early in the 2019 season and never relinquished first place. Promotion to Serie A was wrapped up with five games to spare, as they won the league by seven points.
THE GLOBAL GANG
Based in Brazil’s 175th- biggest city, Bragantino crowds averaged around 6,000 – well short of the numbers boasted by top- tier clubs, but the fourth- highest in Serie B... and getting larger. Attendances were already a significant step up on those at Red Bull Brasil, which occasionally dipped below 500 last year.
The club’s progress has also been assisted by support from Red Bull’s network. After playing a pivotal part in RB Leipzig’s staggering ascent,
Ralf Rangnick left his position as the German side’s sporting director last June and assumed a global role, with particular focus on New York Red Bulls and Bragantino.
Later in 2019, Leipzig’s head of recruitment Paul Mitchell did likewise. Once a Wigan player who celebrated his 19th birthday and Football League debut by getting sent off at Wrexham, Mitchell had previously headed up recruitment at Southampton and Spurs alongside Mauricio Pochettino and was tipped to become director of football at Manchester United.
Gerard Houllier has also been part of Red Bull’s global operation for several years, as an advisor to another key figure, Oliver Mintzlaff.
“The daily operation is our responsibility but I’m always in touch with Paul and Ralf – I also interact in some situations with Gerard, and with Oliver about business and investments,” says Scuro. “All of the technical decisions are shared. We take advantage of their know- how – whenever we sign a player or hire a coach, they are involved.
“They watch our games and there are some moments when they come and visit us, or I go to them. We’re always discussing things over the phone. We have RB Leipzig as a source of study – we analyse their games and share the data with our players.”
After securing promotion to Brazil’s Serie A – they have replaced relegated giants Cruzeiro – the club were renamed Red Bull Bragantino in the off- season. Now nicknamed the Toro Loko, they were due to begin their top- flight tilt in May, only for the coronavirus pandemic to delay the campaign.
When it does start, they mean business. They have studied how Leipzig adapted, finishing second in their maiden Bundesliga season after even leading the standings for a period.
BRAGANTINO INTEND TO DEVELOP YOUNG TALENT, LIKE WERNER AT LEIPZIG AND MANÉ AT SALZBURG
“I think we could be champions next year,” Rangnick said in 2019, having seen a Serie A game between Vasco da Gama and Sao Paulo and been underwhelmed by the standard on show. He changed his mind after watching an altogether better contest between Flamengo and Palmeiras. “Yeah, I don’t think you can be champions that quickly,” he admitted.
For now, their goal is to feature in the Copa Libertadores – and fast. The league’s top four are each guaranteed group- stage spots in the CONMEBOL showpiece. After flying to Salzburg for a training camp last year, the club played games in Argentina at the beginning of 2020, keen to face other South American outfits in preparation for their rise to continental action.
Manager Zago has departed to join Japanese team Kashima Antlers, with Felipe Conceicao appointed Bragantino’s coach – they also held talks with Carlos Carvalhal and sounded out former Barcelona midfielder Thiago Motta. In addition, nearly £ 20 million has been spent on new signings, like Palmeiras’ Artur and Atletico Mineiro goalkeeper Cleiton, as well as loaning Luan Candido from RB Leipzig and recruiting Ecuadorian teenager Leo Realpe.
Employing a similar footballing philosophy to that implemented by Rangnick in Europe, Bragantino want to develop emerging talent – as Leipzig did with Timo Werner and Salzburg with Sadio Mané and Erling Haaland.
“Our focus is to sign young players, but the main goal is not to resell them,” insists Scuro. “It’s all down to the intensity of the game we want to play. These players come with an open mind to grow tactically.
“RB Leipzig are our inspiration, as in a very short space of time they were able to establish themselves in the Bundesliga. But our prime ambition is to stay in Serie A. That’s the reality for newly promoted clubs. Brazil is a such big country, so there aren’t just two or three huge teams, but at least 10 or 12.
“Our first goal is to stay up and consolidate our playing style, to ensure our young players have a smooth adaptation process. Then in two or three years we can compete in the top half, which is what I believe will happen. This season has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak, but our plan was to fight for a place in the Copa Libertadores from 2021 onwards.”
Given Red Bull’s record elsewhere – both in football and Formula 1, where they have been four- time world champions – it would not be a surprise if they achieved just that.
Across Brazil, there is a growing sense that Red Bull Bragantino’s rise to the nation’s elite is probably inevitable. Their presence has not been welcomed by everyone – some moaned that they had bought their way into Serie B last year – but it has stopped short of the all- out hatred that RB Leipzig have experienced from rival fans in Germany.
“We didn’t have to deal with anything even remotely similar to that,” explains Scuro. “The impact has been more positive compared to what happened in the Bundesliga, although it’s evident our sporting performance could affect that over time. In the moment that we start to bother the big teams, that feeling towards us could change a bit.”
Plenty has already changed at Bragantino in recent years, but one thing stays the same. At the Estadio Nabi Abi Chedid, themed sausage sandwiches remain on the menu, the tradition untouched. If they are soon accompanied by success in the Brazilian top tier, they will taste all the sweeter.