Red Bull Bragantino
Brazilian club looking to follow in the footsteps of their German counterparts
In 2010, RB Leipzig were making their debut in the fifth tier of German football. Fastforward a decade, and they have just lost to Paris SaintGermain in the Champions League semi-finals. It’s that level of meteoric rise that energy drink giant Red Bull are hoping to replicate with Bragantino, having invested around $11.5 million into the Brazilian club since taking over last year.
As well as Leipzig, Red Bull have already invested heavily into New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg. Bragantino are not, however, the first Brazilian team that the Austrian company have invested in.
In 2007, Red Bull Brasil were created, competing in the Sao Paulo state leagues. Despite some early promise, they ultimately failed to achieve their objective of reaching the top flight. As a result, Red Bull purchased Atletico Bragantino in March 2019, changed their name, and relegated RB Brasil to the status of development team for the newly-purchased outfit.
At the time, the Massa Bruta had just clawed their way back into the second tier of Brazilian football, and have since ended their 22-year absence from the top flight by winning Serie B in 2019.
So far they have struggled to step up, although they did draw with giants Santos and Botafogo in their first two games of the 2020 Serie A season. Such results would have only been a distant dream a few years ago, when they were languishing in the third tier.
Similarly to Leipzig, Bragantino are looking to build a squad of young stars who will develop together in the future. CEO Thiago Scuro expects them to be challenging the league’s elite in three years. That’s a sizeable task given the current landscape of Brazilian football: Flamengo, champions of both Brazil and South America, are challenging the supremacy of the Sao Paulo clubs, led by Palmeiras, who are the most successful team in the league’s history and have also won two of the last four titles. In the last 30 years, only one side has won Serie A for the first time – Athletico Paranaense, in 2001.
Still, given the success of RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg (Austrian league champions seven years in row), it is not an unrealistic objective.
Red Bull’s biggest challenge will be building the club’s presence off the pitch as much as on it. Based in Braganca, about 100km outside of Sao Paulo, the club’s Estadio Nabi Abi Chedid holds just shy of 18,000 fans, yet Bragantino only averaged crowds of around 6,000 last year. They’ve got some way to go to compete with the likes of Flamengo, who averaged just under 60,000 in 2019.
For now, securing their top-flight status is the priority, and the hierarchy will use Red Bull’s resources to do it: Luan Candido arrived on loan from Leipzig this summer, as did Luis Phelipe from Salzburg.
Red Bull purchased Atletico Bragantino in March 2019, changed their name, and relegated RB Brasil to the status of development team