RB Leipzig
The club
RasenBallsport Leipzig, known everywhere as RB Leipzig, was founded on 19 May 2009 by Red Bull GmbH after a three-and-a-half-year search for a suitable German investment. Rather than starting a club from scratch, Red Bull bought the playing rights of fifth-tier SSV Markranstädt for around 350,000 euros and used them to build a new operation in Leipzig. Red Bull owns 99 per cent of the club's GmbH structure, but German Football Association rules bar a club name from carrying a sponsor's name outright, so the organisation registered as RasenBallsport Leipzig, literally "lawn ball sports," a construction that let the initials "RB" stand publicly for Red Bull while satisfying the letter of the statute. Earlier attempts by Red Bull to buy into FC Sachsen Leipzig and Fortuna Düsseldorf had been blocked on similar grounds, and the naming device remains contested and disliked by sections of German football, with rival supporters and some administrators treating "RasenBallsport" as a fig leaf rather than a real name.
The home ground is the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, formerly the Zentralstadion, built for the 2006 FIFA World Cup; Red Bull took over the naming rights in June 2009 and the club moved in during July 2010 after two seasons at the much smaller Stadion am Bad in Markranstädt. Capacity is 47,800.
The head coach is the Argentine Martín Demichelis, appointed in July 2026 on a contract running to 30 June 2028 after joining from RCD Mallorca. He succeeded Ole Werner, who was let go at the end of the 2025/26 season despite leading Leipzig to third place in the Bundesliga and Champions League qualification; Jürgen Klopp, Red Bull's global head of soccer, said at the time that "Ole did a fantastic job; we qualified for the Champions League but we also have to look ahead at the same time," citing concerns about the coming workload. On his unveiling, Demichelis said "you can immediately feel the energy of this club. That's why I'm very proud to be here," adding that "it's almost like a second home. Coming to Germany, to the Bundesliga and to a top club is a dream come true for me." Sporting director Marcel Schäfer said the club had "found a coach who stands for intensity, clarity and maximum commitment."
Recent seasons
Leipzig's Bundesliga finishes since their 2016/17 top-flight debut have been remarkably consistent: second in 2016/17 with 67 points in their maiden season, sixth in 2017/18, third in both 2018/19 and 2019/20, second again in 2020/21 with 65 points, fourth in 2021/22, third in 2022/23, fourth in 2023/24, a dip to seventh in 2024/25 that cost them European qualification for the first time since promotion, and a recovery to third in 2025/26 that restored their Champions League place. The 2025/26 finish came under Ole Werner, whose dismissal immediately afterwards was one of the more surprising sackings of a coach who had just delivered Champions League football.
Honours and landmarks
RB Leipzig have never won the Bundesliga title. Their best finishes are runners-up, in 2016/17 (15 points behind champions Bayern Munich, in only their first season in the top flight after promotion from the second division) and in 2020/21, when 65 points from 19 wins, 8 draws and 7 defeats gave them their highest finish to date behind a Bayern Munich side that won the league by 13 points. They lost the 2018/19 DFB-Pokal final 3-0 to Bayern Munich and the 2021 final 4-1 to Borussia Dortmund at Berlin's Olympiastadion, Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho scoring twice each. They finally won the DFB-Pokal for the first time in 2021/22, beating SC Freiburg 4-2 on penalties after a goalless final, and retained it in 2022/23 with a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. They added the DFL-Supercup in August 2023, beating Bayern Munich 3-0, having lost the 2022 edition of the same fixture 5-3. Their run to the semi-finals of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League, in the tournament's pandemic-affected single-venue finish in Portugal, remains the club's deepest run in continental competition.
Notable scorelines
In the 2019/20 Champions League, Leipzig eliminated Tottenham Hotspur in the round of 16 4-0 on aggregate, then beat Atlético Madrid 2-1 in the quarter-final in Lisbon with a late goal from Tyler Adams, before being beaten 3-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final. Domestically, the club's record win of the modern era includes an 8-2 defeat of SV Wilhelmshaven in the Regionalliga in February 2012, from their pre-Bundesliga years. Full details of the club's largest ever margins in Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal play, and their heaviest defeats, were not established from the sources read here.
European record
Leipzig have been Champions League regulars since 2016/17 and the 2026/27 campaign is their eighth appearance in the competition. The high point was 2019/20: they won their group ahead of Lyon, Benfica and Zenit Saint Petersburg, then beat Tottenham Hotspur and Atlético Madrid in the knockout rounds before losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final. In the Europa League, Leipzig were eliminated in the semi-finals of the 2021/22 edition by Rangers, losing 3-2 on aggregate. A fuller season-by-season account of Leipzig's other European campaigns was not established from the sources read here.
Quotes
Martín Demichelis, unveiled as head coach in July 2026: "You can immediately feel the energy of this club. That's why I'm very proud to be here," and, "it's almost like a second home. Coming to Germany, to the Bundesliga and to a top club is a dream come true for me." On his football he said: "We want to play aggressively going forward, defend bravely and be present in every situation." Sporting director Marcel Schäfer said the club had "found a coach who stands for intensity, clarity and maximum commitment." Jürgen Klopp, on sacking predecessor Ole Werner despite Champions League qualification: "Ole did a fantastic job; we qualified for the Champions League but we also have to look ahead at the same time. When we considered what the workload might look like for us, Leipzig decided to make a change."
Right now (2026/27)
Martín Demichelis is in his first season as head coach. Leipzig have made a mixed start in the Bundesliga, beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 on 29 August 2026 before losing 3-1 away to Werder Bremen on 5 September, leaving them eighth in the table with one win and one defeat from two matches at the time of writing.
Leipzig open their Champions League league-phase campaign away to Como 1907 at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, a fixture previewed for 9 and 10 September 2026 in different outlets (Como's ground, not Leipzig's Red Bull Arena) and billed as Como's Champions League debut against a Leipzig side making their eighth appearance in the competition. Demichelis is missing a heavy list of first-team players through injury, reported as Christoph Baumgartner, Castello Lukebakio, Rocco Reitz, Assan Ouedraogo, Brajan Gruda, Romulo and Viggo Gebel. Expected personnel included Willi Orban and Maxime Esteve in defence, Neil El Aynaoui, Ezechiel Banzuzi and Nicolas Seiwald in midfield, and Antonio Nusa and Tidiam Gomis supporting Christopher Nkunku up front, in a 4-3-2-1 shape. Leipzig's stated ambition for the expanded league-phase format is to finish in the top 24 and ideally the top eight. The full squad list, summer transfer business and confirmation of the final Como team news were not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RB_Leipzig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RB_Leipzig_seasons https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/news/martin-demichelis-unveiled-leipzig-head-coach-bayern-38239 https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/news/rb-leipzig-ole-werner-part-ways-coach-37831 https://www.goal.com/en/lists/jurgen-klopp-man-city-bayern-munich-argentina-rb-leipzig-ole-werner-sacked-season/bltc21dcbc2b8bbb445 https://thehardtackle.com/round-up/2026/09/09/como-vs-rb-leipzig-preview-prediction-probable-lineups-tactics-team-news-key-stats/ https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/preview-como-1907-vs-rb-191500300.html
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.