Red Bull giving young players wings
Red Bull Salzburg have finally experienced their Champions League dream. After long years of unsuccessfully trying to get into the group stage of Europe’s most prestigious club competition, there was talk of a “curse”.
While Salzburg dominated the Austrian Bundesliga – winning12 of the last15 league titles – it took until 2019 for the team to get into the groups. When it comes to the club’s philosophy, though, there was always a belief that Salzburg were doing something right.
The proof came in 2021-22, when they advanced to the last16 of the Champions League, bringing a clash against Bayern Munich, a superclub just across the German border. After earning a1-1 draw in Austria, Salzburg hoped for a big surprise, but lost the return leg 7-1.
But one heavy defeat doesn’t undermine the progress that the club has made over the last decade.
Austrian energy drinks giant Red Bull bought the club in 2005, radically changing the face of football in the country. After establishing themselves as the dominant local power, Salzburg hatched an even more ambitious plan: to break through with a unique strategy.
Salzburg developed one of the most successful transfer policies in world football, one that would serve as an inspiration to others – particularly clubs outside the top five European leagues. Alongside the likes of Porto and Ajax, Salzburg earned a reputation as a talent factory.
Some sections of Austrian football supporters don’t accept the club for its financial backing by Red Bull or relationship with RB Leipzig. Yet Salzburg have undoubtedly found a clear philosophy both on and off the pitch. They serve as a springboard for talents from around the world to the top leagues, and, at the same time, the winning doesn’t stop.
The list of players to emerge at Salzburg before moving on to bigger leagues is extensive. Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland and Liverpool ace Sadio Mane are the most obvious, highprofile examples. Yet they are far from unique: Mane’s Anfield team-mates Naby Keita and Takumi Minamino made their names in Salzburg, as did Patson Daka (Leicester City), Enock Mwepu (Brighton), Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Sabitzer (both Bayern), Duje Caleta-Car (Marseille), Mu’nas Dabbur (Hoffenheim) and Dominik Szoboszlai (Leipzig). Over the past decade, the strategy has been clear: find talents and give them a chance.
At the start of the Red Bull era, the approach was quite different. Salzburg relied on experienced players and coaches, such as Giovanni Trapattoni. That changed in 2012, when revolutionary German coach Ralf Rangnick became sporting director of both Salzburg and Leipzig. Thanks to the recruitment of young players, their development, and an attacking tactical system, both clubs broke through into European football.
In 2016, Christoph Freund became Salzburg’s new sporting director, having worked across the club’s structure for the previous ten years. “We began to change the club’s philosophy in 2012. FC Red Bull Salzburg were successful in Austria before then, but relied more on experienced players,” he tells World
Soccer. “We are now the youngest team in the Champions League group stage with an average age of around 22. At
The list of players to emerge at Salzburg before moving on to bigger leagues is extensive. Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland and Liverpool’s Sadio Mane are the most obvious, high-profile examples
the start, a lot of people didn’t understand our new strategy and what we were doing, or were dissatisfied. There was a lot we had to do at many levels inside and outside of the club to convince people of our work. We now attract great respect for what we do.
“We know though that it can’t always get better and better, and we will have years when we will struggle a bit. But we are100 per cent convinced and will not move from our way and our clear philosophy of doing things.”
Salzburg has a connection to football schools on all continents and a broad scouting network. After identifying young talents, they have sufficient finances and the infrastructure to bring them in. As countless examples show, Salzburg know how it’s necessary to prepare these talents for the biggest games.
“We attach great importance to the training of young players. Our scouting and club philosophy are also geared towards this,” adds Freund. “We have a very clear image of young talent that fits the kind of football we want to see here. And when they are with us, they receive not only the best possible training, but they also should be able to play as many minutes as possible in the professional field very early on. First with our cooperation club FC Liefering, then with Red Bull Salzburg.”
Liefering are one of the best clubs in the Austrian second tier – lying in third at the time of writing – and have a close partnership with Salzburg. In 2021, Salzburg sent more than 20 players out on loan, with many of them heading to Liefering. Hungarian playmaker Szoboszlai was the most prominent success story from this route; he spent the 2017-18 campaign with Liefering before making his impact on the Salzburg first team, later joining Leipzig for € 20 million in 2021.
It is this early exposure to senior football, and willingness to give young players opportunities, that makes Salzburg such an attractive destination. It was certainly decisive in attracting
Norwegian striker Haaland, who joined from Molde in 2019, despite offers from much bigger clubs.
“It helps that so many great players have been with us in recent years,” says
Freund. “That makes us very interesting for talents who otherwise would probably never have chosen to come to Austria. It makes us attractive to talent. They then play in a rather small league and, in recent years, always at Champions League level. It’s not just about winning titles in Austria, but also playing a lot of games in the Europa League or Champions League. In this way, the players can develop in the best possible way.”
In Austria, this influx of foreign youngsters has been unprecedented.
Der Standard journalist Andreas Hagenauer explains: “Breakthroughs of Haaland and Mane are top of that list. Sure, it was a surprise that they skyrocketed like they did. As followers of a small Austrian league, we were not used to things like that. Keita was one of the best players who ever played in our league; Szoboszlai was also one of the most gifted. We’ll see about Daka as well.”
If Salzburg sell a player, they are usually ready to replace him quickly. Rather than panic buying, they simply select one of the players loaned out to Liefering, or delve into their Under-19 team, which won the UEFA Youth
League in 2017 with a team featuring Daka, plus Leipzig superstar Amadou Haidara, Fiorentina defender Igor and Austrian midfielder Hannes Wolf.
There’s a clear idea about the
“Red Bull Salzburg certainly helped to put Austria back on the map of European football” Austrian journalist Andreas Hagenauer
typology of the players, too. Salzburg like to play an attacking, high-pressing and dynamic game, with a basis on the power of collective and creating an environment where excellent individuals can thrive.
“There’s definitely not just one player in the last few years who has delivered extremely good performances very quickly with us,” Freund explains. “We are particularly proud of the development of many of our boys from the Red Bull academy such as Xaver Schlager, Konrad Laimer, Stefan Lainer and many more, up to our current blue chips from our academy such as Nicolas Seiwald, Luka Sucic and Karim Adeyemi.”
The flow of young talents just doesn’t seem to stop. Hagenauer points out several players in the current team who have enormous potential: “There’s certainly Adeyemi, who’s going to make it, absolutely no doubt. Then there are Mohamed Camara, Seiwald, Oumar Solet, Rasmus Kristensen and Brenden
Aaronson, all with a good chance to find their spot in the big leagues.”
It’s not only about players, though. Red Bull clubs have also been able to find young and promising coaches. Roger Schmidt, Marco Rose and Adi Hutter all had their breakthroughs at Salzburg, as did Jesse Marsch, who worked for New York Red Bulls and Leipzig before making his name in Austria. After Marsch left to take over at Leipzig in 2021, he was replaced by 33-year-old Matthias Jaissle, who previously coached Liefering. Jaissle played as a centre-back for Hoffenheim (coached by Rangnick), but retired after a serious injury. He went on to coach the youth team at Leipzig, and progressed to Salzburg’s senior team, taking them to the Champions League last16. In a recent interview with The Athletic, he insisted he wasn’t “Julian Nagelsmann 2.0”.
Despite being a club from a smaller league, Salzburg can hold their own in the European competitions and are possibly showing the way for other clubs. “I think it’s difficult to compare clubs or leagues. There are so many different approaches and requirements, especially for the really big clubs,” says Freund. “But what I can say is that we are doing very well with this concept here at Salzburg and we are all very happy about it.
“If there are clubs that learn something from us and that pay attention to our path, that’s a nice thing. But as I said, every club has to find its own orientation and strategy. We are100 per cent convinced of the path we have chosen and it suits our club.”
After Red Bull’s takeover of the club, Salzburg received a lot of criticism within Austria, just as Leipzig did in Germany when they were added to the company’s portfolio of clubs a few years later.
The new owners indelibly left their mark on the club, changing the name of the stadium, the badge and the shirt colour. While Salzburg regularly play in the Champions League or Europa League and attract young fans, their domestic rivals have a nearimpossible job to keep up with them, with the result an entirely predictable Austrian Bundesliga.
“[Salzburg] certainly helped to put Austria back on the map of European football. Maybe all the European leagues have problems with a big gap between the leaders and contenders, but in Austria the domination of Salzburg is really obvious,” admits Hagenauer. “Salzburg’s rise helped Austrian football, but at the same time it has damaged it.”